Breastfeeding is one of the initial ways to feed your newborn baby. It provides all the nutrients and strength to your infant’s body. In addition, it protects your infant from diseases and sickness that can occur in a newborn baby’s initial months. Breast milk can be fed directly from the breast, expressed by hand, or through breast pumps. You feed your baby breast milk for the first few months, nearly 6 exclusively. In Breastfeeding, you provide your infant your breast milk which is produced by your body. Breastfeeding is also called nursing. However, Breastfeeding is a mom’s own choice.
But in this article, we are here to make you believe that Breastfeeding should be your priority when deciding what you should feed your baby.
Benefits for the baby
- Healthy
Breastfeeding ensures the health of your baby. Not only does breastmilk nourish your baby, but it also protects a baby from diseases, sickness, and obesity. Breast milk is filled with white cells, beneficial bacteria, antibodies, stem cells, and other bioactive components. All of these live ingredients help in protecting the baby. Though formula milk or powder milk can be nutritious, nothing beats protecting your baby than breastmilk.
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Helps premature baby
If you give birth to a premature baby, feeding them breastfed milk ensures protection and strength against lung diseases, fatal conditions, and sepsis.
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A fruitful sleep
Breastfeeding gives the guarantee of great sleep. It is said that babies who consume breastmilk go back to sleep sooner than those babies who consume powder or formulated milk.
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Brain development
Breastfeeding also takes responsibility for your baby’s brain development. In studies and research, it is found that babies who have been fed breastmilk have more white matter in the brain, which connects different parts of the brain.
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Other benefits
Apart from the above-mentioned benefits, there are lifelong benefits as well. It protects you for lifelong, Breastfeeding also increases the bonding between you and your infant as during your nursing session the level of oxytocin increases which is also called the love hormone. Thus it is a great bonding session as well.
Benefits for the mom
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Helps physically
Breastfeeding helps a lot to recover during your recovery and post-pregnancy time. It helps in losing weight fast. Other than this it also reduces postpartum bleeding. It also reduces your chances to have anemia, urinary infections, and postpartum depression.
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Love hormone
Breastfeeding helps to heal a mom emotionally as well. During Breastfeeding, oxytocin which is also called the love hormone, increases. Other than this, the hormone Prolactin is also released; both of these are soothing hormones that relieve a mother from stress and tension.
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Travel easy
This may not sound right for a second, but breastmilk is your right option when you travel. It is always clean and at the right temperature. In addition, you can use breast pumps to extract milk from your breast while traveling without settling with powder milk.
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Trust bond
During Breastfeeding, there is a bonding session. The mothers learn about how their babies react to certain things, and also, the babies start trusting their mothers.
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Lifelong benefits
Other benefits for a mom from Breastfeeding are low risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease.
These were only some of the significant points which cover the benefits of Breastfeeding. As you can see in the points mentioned above, Breastfeeding is fruitful and beneficial for both the baby and the mother and should be every parent’s priority while choosing what to feed their infant.