Have you been wondering about the benefits of breastfeeding and if breastfeeding may be for you? There is no pressure to decide until your baby arrives. However, the following benefits of breastfeeding for mom and baby may help you make a decision.
The Benefits for Your Baby
Feeding your baby exclusively with breastmilk for at least the first 6 months has positive long term effects lasting into adulthood. Breastmilk grows with the quickly progressing needs of your baby.
Lowering The Risk of Infection
Antibodies from the mother are passed to your baby via breastmilk. This helps when it comes to your baby fighting off bacteria and viruses that can lead to infection.
Obesity
There are bacteria found in the digestive tract of babies that are breastfed. This bacteria is proven to help prevent obesity.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
Sudden infant death syndrome affects 1 in every 1000 babies. Breast milk helps boosts brain development, encourages safer sleep and supports suck and swallow coordination. As a result, breastmilk means your baby is at lower risk of SIDS.
Cardiovascular Disease in Adulthood
Baby's that exclusively have a diet of breastmilk from birth to 6 months have lower cholesterol in adolescence, study's show. This leads to reduced chances of cardiovascular disease.
The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Moms
When contemplating breastfeeding, you typically only think about the benefits for your baby. However, there are many health benefits of breastfeeding for moms.
Ovarian and Breast Cancer
While breastfeeding, it is common to shed tissue. This shedding of tissue can remove any DNA cell damage that could be cancerous. What's more, it can also prevent ovulation, reducing the risk of ovarian cancer.
Osteoporosis
New bone is built at a quicker rate when osteocalcin levels are high. While breastfeeding, you lose less calcium in your urine, resulting in an increased level of osteocalcin production.
Cardiovascular Disease
It is unknown how breastfeeding leads to a decrease in the chance of developing cardiovascular disease. However, it's suspected that breastfeeding acts as a reset of the metabolism for the mother's body. Burning the stored fat is essential for the baby's growth.
Benefits of Extended Breast-Feeding
The benefits of breastfeeding for mom and baby can continue when extending the breastfeeding stage for over 2 years. These benefits can vary from reducing the risk of developing maternal diseases, high blood pressure and type two diabetes. For your baby, this can include encouraging brain development and protection from illness.
Common Concerns
A worry for moms can be not producing enough milk to provide for their baby. If this is the case for you it is recommended to start power pumping. As the action of power pumping imitates cluster feeding, it encourages your body to produce more milk.
The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Mom and Baby
Motherhood can be stressful; thankfully, breastfeeding produces the soothing hormone oxytocin. This, along with the listed benefits of breastfeeding for mom and baby featured in this article, is surely a reason to give it a go.
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