Mother breast milk is the perfect food for babies. It doesn’t look as rich as cows’ milk, but don’t be fooled. It contains all the nutrients your baby needs, and in just the right amounts. Breast milk has many benefits for your baby. Breastfed babies tend so suffer less than bottlefed babies from such illnesses as gastroenteritis and chest infections. This is because antibodies from the colostrum and the mother’s milk are absorbed into the bloodstream, where they act to protect the baby against infections. In the first few days of life, they also protect the intestine, reducing the chances of intestinal upsets.
Breast milk has other advantages for the baby’s digestion. Breastfed babies don’t get constipated, because breast milk is more easily digestible than cows’ milk, although after the first few weeks of life they pass few stools because the milk is so completely digested that there is little waste. They are also less prone to diaper rash. Form the mother’s point of view, breastfeeding is far more convenient than bottlefeeding: there’s no need to warm the formula, there are no bottles to sterilize, and there is no formula to be made up and no equipment to buy. Breastfed babies usually sleep longer, suffer less from gas, and spit up – that is, regurgitate food – less, and the regurgitated food smells less unpleasant. It is difficult to over feed a breastfed baby, so don’t worry if your baby seems fatter than other babies of her age. Each baby has its own appetite and metabolic rate, and yours will be the right weight for her own body.
Some women worry that breastfeeding will make their breasts sag. This is not the case: breasts may change in size or sag after a baby is born, but these changes are due to being pregnant, not to breastfeeding itself. In fact, breastfeeding is good for your figure, as it promotes the loss of weight gained during pregnancy. While you are breastfeeding, the hormone oxytocin , which stimulates milk flow, also encourages the uterus to return to its pre pregnant state. Your pelvis and waistline will also return to normal more quickly.
Studies have shown that breast cancer is rarer is those parts of the world where breastfeeding is the norm, and it is possible that breastfeeding may provide some protection against the disease.
Breastfeeding Suckling helps form a very strong bond between you and your new baby.
Although I totally agree with the fact that breastfeeding is the physiological norm for human babies, I have to admit that I detest the phrase “Best is Best” with a passion. It infers that breast is best but that formula is nearly as good. It infers that the onus is on breast milk to prove it’s worth when it fact it should be on formula to prove it is safe and even adequate. Breastfeeding therefore, does not protect mothers and babies from various diseases etc rather Formula feeding increases the risks of those disease as breast milk is the NORM.
I strongly believe that until we turn the onus around on to the risks of Formula the breast vs bottle debate could continue ad nauseum.