In the midst of devastation in China following the May 12 earthquake, there's an angel.

Officer Jiang Xiaojuan, a 29-year-old mother of a 6-month old boy, has been breastfeeding babies separated from their mothers as a result of this disaster. Reports are referring to her as a hero, and she truly is, but she is disregarding the title..."I think what I did was normal. In a quake zone, many people do things for others. This was a small thing, not worth mentioning." It doesn't seem that the Chinese media agrees. They have referred to her on the front page of newspapers as "China's Mother No. 1."

Unfortunately, natural disasters are out of our control, but women like Officer Xiaojuan remind us about yet another important benefit of breastfeeding. We're typically so focused on the health benefits and lose sight of the bigger picture. Here is the International Lactation Consultant Association's position paper on Infant Feeding in Emergencies, which is a wonderful resource.