Why Breastfeed
What is Breastfeeding?
Breastfeeding, also called nursing, is the act of feeding an infant or child with milk made from a mother’ s breasts during a process called lactation. The instinctive act of attaching to the breast( latching) enables the baby to stimulate the breasts to release milk. The milk then flows into the baby’ s mouth, where it is swallowed and digested.
Providing a baby with human milk through breastfeeding is the natural and optimal way for a mother to feed her baby. Research has documented that breastfeeding not only provides the perfect nutrition for a growing and developing baby, but breastfed babies also have higher IQ scores and are better protected from many diseases compared to those who are not.
Breastfeeding Is Good For You
• Breastfeeding decreases the risk of excessive bleeding immediately after birth.
Breastfeeding Is Good For Babies
Breastfeeding provides babies with protection against many health issues and diseases, both short term and long term, including:
• Breastfeeding mothers often have better emotional health after birth and feel more • SIDS( sudden bonded
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• Asthma / eczema with their baby. infant death • Diabetes
• Breastfeeding mothers report less syndrome) • Obesity depression, anxiety and stress after birth. • Diarrhea
• Bowel disease
• Breastfeeding mothers have lower risk of • Ear infections • Cancer
breast and ovarian cancer, obesity and
• Respiratory • Developmental heart disease, and better metabolic health. infections and behavioral
• Breastfeeding can help with weight loss • Allergies problems after birth, since breastfeeding uses the fat stores created during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding Is Good for Families
Breastfeeding saves money— it is free! Breastfeeding can also reduce health care-related costs by preventing illness and / or reducing illness severity.
Many women report getting more sleep with breastfeeding and room sharing with baby. When a new mother is more rested and less stressed, the transition to life with a new baby is easier on everyone in the family.
2 Breastfeeding Your Baby