Breastfeeding Benefits

What are the benefits of breastfeeding for babies and moms?

Both babies and mothers can get use and pleasure from breastfeeding. You won’t find another magic liquid in the world like breast milk! It is easy to digest. Besides it contains antibodies that can protect infants from bacterial and viral infections. Research indicates that women who breastfeed may have lower rates of certain breast and ovarian cancers.
So let’s find out these benefits in details:
• First of all breastfeeding is normal and healthy for infants and moms.
• Breast milk has disease-fighting cells called antibodies that help protect infants from germs, illness, and even SIDS. Infant formula cannot match the exact chemical makeup of human milk, especially the cells, hormones, and antibodies that fight disease.
• Breastfeeding is linked to a lower risk of such infant health problems as Ear infections, stomach viruses, diarrhea, respiratory infections, atopic dermatitis, asthma, obesity, type 1 and 2 diabetes, sudden infant death syndrome(SIDS) and childhood leukemia. Moreover breast milk can help to prevent necrotizing enterocolitis, a disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract in pre-term infants.
• Breastfeeding is linked to a lower risk of such health problems in moms as Type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, postpartum depression (PPD) and ovarian cancer

• Studies are still looking at the effects of breastfeeding on osteoporosis and weight loss after birth.
• Breast milk differs from infant formula. There is no better start at life that you can give your baby than Colostrum (the thick yellow first breast milk that woman makes during pregnancy and just after birth). It is often called "liquid gold." Colostrum is very rich in nutrients and antibodies to protect your baby as he or she first enters the world. Although your baby only gets a small amount of colostrum at each feeding, it matches the amount his or her tiny stomach can hold.
• Don’t worry, your milk changes over time to meet your baby's needs. Your breast milk that begins to be made by the third to fifth day after birth has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water, and protein that is needed for a baby's growth. It will be a thinner type of milk, but just as full of all of the nutrients and antibodies for your baby.
• Premature babies do better when breastfed compared to premature babies who are fed formula.
• For most babies, breast milk is easier to digest than formula. It takes time for their stomachs to adjust to digesting the proteins in formula because they are made from cow's milk.
• When you breastfeed, there are no bottles and nipples to sterilize. So it is convenient! Unlike human milk straight from the breast, infant formula has a chance of being contaminated.
• Breastfeeding makes your life easier. You do not have to purchase, measure, and mix formula. There are no bottles to warm in the middle of the night!
• Breastfeeding can save your money (between $1,160 and $3,915 per year, depending on the brand of formula).
• A mother can satisfy her baby's hunger right away with breastfeeding.
• Physical contact is very important to newborns. It helps them feel more secure, warm, and comforted. Breastfeeding mothers may have increased self-confidence and feelings of closeness and bonding with their infants. Besides breastfeeding requires a mother to take some quiet relaxed time for herself and her baby, helping them bond.
• Breastfeeding during an emergency can save lives.
So as a mother, one of the best things that only you can do for your baby is to breastfeed. Breastfeeding is not only a lifestyle choice. It is an important health choice. Any amount of time that you can do it will help both you and your baby. Although breastfeeding isn't the only option for feeding your baby, every mother has the potential to succeed and gain a wonderful experience.

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