Catholic Nursing Mothers League
Encouragement and Support for Breastfeeding within the Catholic Community
Principles and Statement of Faith
Frequently Asked Questions
Our Principles
· God the Creator has a plan for all men, women and children and this plan applies to every area of our lives. The Catholic Church's authoritative teaching helps us to know this plan. God's plan includes conception, childbirth and the nurturing of babies.
· Breastfeeding is the natural continuation of the childbearing cycle which begins with pregnancy and childbirth. As such, it forms an important part of God's plan for mothers and babies. Adequate prenatal education and childbirth experiences free from routine medical interventions facilitate successful breastfeeding initiation.
· Breast milk is the best nourishment for babies and the act of breastfeeding provides the best nurturing environment for both mothers and babies. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months, followed by continued breastfeeding in combination with age-appropriate foods for a year or more is recommended. Nursing for two years or more is a beneficial practice that is endorsed by world health authorities.
· Breastfeeding is a special way in which a mother makes a sincere gift of herself to her baby. Breastfeeding is also a special way in which mothers are called to serve life in one of its most vulnerable stages. In the breastfeeding Madonna, Catholic mothers have a special exemplar.
· The natural child spacing effect of breastfeeding is a moral and healthy form of natural birth regulation. Mothers can encourage this legitimate natural effect by practicing ecological breastfeeding.
· Children deserve to be raised to appreciate the equality and complementarity of men and women in the context of life-long marriage. Fathers offer essential spiritual and emotional support to their breastfeeding wives, and they provide for and protect the nursing couple. These early acts of service lay the groundwork for fathers' unique and irreplaceable role in their children's lives.
· Women have a right to be truthfully informed about the benefits of breastfeeding for themselves as well as for their babies. Families, parishes, communities, governments and society have a responsibility to protect and strengthen cultural support for breastfeeding practices.
· Children need their mothers' presence, especially in the first three years of life. With or without breastfeeding, motherhood is an important and valuable way in which women live in accordance with their nature as persons created in God's image.
Our Statement of Faith
· The Catholic Nursing Mothers League acknowledges that the Catholic Church was founded by Christ and assents to all that the Church authentically teaches through the Magisterium.
· The teachings of the Roman Pontiffs and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith are accepted by CNML as authoritative.
· In particular, the Catholic Nursing Mothers League assents to the following specific teachings that bear on our work as supporters of breastfeeding mothers:
1. We respect the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death. We oppose all forms of direct abortion.
2. We believe that marriage is between one man and one woman and that children are the supreme gift of marriage. We believe that married couples are called to be generous in the service of life and to exercise responsible parenthood.
3. We reject contraception and all means of seeking conception in which technological interventions are substituted for the marriage act as contrary to God's plan. We accept the morality of natural means of birth regulation for couples with a serious reason to space their children.