Advantages of breastfeeding include:
-
A mother's breast milk is the perfect food for babies.
Human milk is nature's perfect design for helping your baby's body and brain grow and develop. No formula can be made exactly the same as human milk because we do not know all its ingredients.
Babies can digest breast milk easily. A diet of breast milk produces loose bowel movements that a baby can easily pass. Constipation is rare in breast-fed infants.
The only food your baby needs for about 6 months is breast milk. After you start feeding your baby solid foods, you should continue breast-feeding until your child is a year old or even older.
-
Breast-feeding protects your baby from sickness.
Breast-feeding helps protect your baby from illnesses including diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia and serious illnesses.
Breast-feeding improves your baby's chances of remaining healthy.
-
Nursing is a valuable source of security and comfort for your baby.
You and your baby give comfort to each other. Your baby needs your breast milk and physical closeness, and your full breasts need to be emptied. Breast-feeding develops an intimate relationship that can deepen the bond between you and your baby.
-
Breast-fed babies have fewer allergies.
Your baby is less likely to have skin problems and asthma than babies who are fed formula.
References:
March of Dimes, International Food Information Council Healthy Eating During Pregnancy 2003. Washington, D.C.
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Planning Your Pregnancy and Birth, Third Edition. Washington, DC. 2000.
Policy Statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Breast Feeding PEDIATRICS Vol. 115 No. 2 February 2005, pp. 496-506
US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010: Conference Edition—Volumes I and II. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health; 2000:47–48
US Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women's Health; 2000
United States Breastfeeding Committee. Breastfeeding in the United States: A National Agenda. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau; 2001