The Benefits Of Breast Feeding Far Outweigh The Difficulties

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

What is the best way to give your baby a great start in life? Breast feeding is one of the best things you can do to optimise your baby’s health and protect him from illness. One of the main benefits of breast feeding is that it’s free!

While breast feeding can save you a lot of money on buying formula, it can also help with your doctor’s bills. Statistics show that breast fed babies get sick less often than formula fed babies. When they do succumb to illness they usually have a milder form and recover much quicker. Bottle fed babies suffer more often with respitory infections, ear infections and other medical problems.

If there is a history of allergies in your family, breast feeding is even more important. A mother’s milk contains antibodies which are transferred to her baby during feeding. These antibodies protect her baby from allergies, food sensitivities and other illnesses until her baby’s immune system is mature enough to make his own antibodies.

Sucking on the breast will also help with the development or jaw alignment and the development of the cheekbone. For this very reason, there is less of a need for costly orthodontic work when the child gets older.

Breast milk is more convenient. It is available 24/7 and is always at the correct temperature for feeding. Breast milk also contains all the necessary nutrients in the way of vitamins and minerals for a growing baby.

Not all the benefits of breast feeding are just for baby. Moms can benefit by the fact that breast feeding burns more calories than bottle feeding and that will help her lose weight – always a great benefit! At the same time she can create a special bond with her baby which is not always possible with formula feeding. The sucking action of the baby also causes contractions of the uterus, helping it to return to normal a lot faster.

If you’re a mom who’s unable to breast feed for one reason or another, this article is not intended to make you feel bad in any way. Bottle feeding is still a good option and there have been some considerable improvements to the formulas available today with added nutrients such as probiotics and omega 3.

Share and Enjoy:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.