Should I Breastfeed My Baby?
What if there was only one thing you needed to do to ensure your child's proper physical development and minimize his risks for myriad illnesses? What if that same choice also reduced your own risk of developing certain cancers?
What if that alleged miracle resource also enhanced your parenting skills, was environmentally friendly, and FREE?
Breastfeeding is all these things and more. Medically accepted as the healthiest nutritional choice for babies, breastfeeding provides countless benefits to baby, mother, the environment, and the community. Respected authorities in nutrition and human development including the World Health Organization, the US Department of Health and Human Services, and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend breastfeeding worldwide. And, given sound information and support, 99% of mothers and babies can breastfeed successfully. (There are rare instances in which the mother's or baby's health may complicate the choice to breastfeed.)
Best for Baby
Human milk has all the nutrients, for babies that are necessary for optimal physical growth and development. Human milk is more easily digested than any alternative infant food and has no additives babies don't need. Living substances unique to human milk ready the baby's body for other foods and protect his immature system from harmful bacteria. Every day, researchers discover new and unique compounds in human milk that cannot be duplicated synthetically or through the combination of other foods.
Human milk is always available at the right temperature with no preparation. It is easily stored for later use, and it even changes as baby grows and his nutritional needs change!
Hundreds of studies provide strong evidence that breastfeeding decreases the risk, incidence, and severity of diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, respiratory, and ear infections, allergies, SIDS, obesity, and more. Research is so conclusive that the AAP asserts that infants do not need anything other than breast milk for at least the first six months of life, and recommend that all infants be breastfed for the first full year and thereafter as mutually desired by mother and child.
Best for Mom
Breastfeeding stimulates the hormones that help mothers recover from birth, aids in postpartum weight loss, and can reduce the mother's own risk of certain health problems, including osteoporosis, breast and ovarian cancers. And breastfeeding helps mothers learn to parent by enhancing the mother-baby bond and providing mothers a natural, effective way of understanding and satisfying their babies.
Best for Your Wallet
Breastfeeding is cost-effective. Formula can cost a minimum of $1,500.00 for a baby's first year. For babies with allergies or digestive problems, special formulas can cost $4000.00 a year.
Best for the Environment
Breastfeeding requires no packaging, no fuel consumption for transportation or heating, and exploits no animals or trees. As such, every breastfeeding mother has a positive impact on the global community.
Best for the Workplace
Breastfeeding women who return to the workplace experience less absenteeism, because their children don't get sick as often as artificially fed children. Healthier kids means moms' employers' insurance costs are lower as well. And "breastfeeding friendly" employers are more likely to retain their breastfeeding employees.
Best for Allergies!
The choice to breastfeed is an especially important one for families with a history of allergies. Human milk has properties that help a body develop appropriate immunological responses to "irritating" substances, delaying and/or lessening allergic reactions. A recent article in the Journal of Human Lactation strongly concluded that breastfeeding protects against childhood asthma and atopic disease. A German national health survey concluded that breastfeeding even reduced asthma in children expossed to tobacco smoke.
Is breastfeeding right for my baby?
There is a wide variation in babies' normal breastfeeding patterns. The honest answer to questions like "How often and how long does my baby need to breastfeed?" is "It depends on your baby." The pattern that is right for one baby and mother may not be right for another. Babies' nursing patterns also vary as they grow. By feeding babies according to their natural cues, mothers build the milk supply that is right for their individual children.
Cultural and Community Support
While breastfeeding is natural it is a learned art. In this age of convenience, we tend to distance ourselves from things, which seem less "modern." Cultural assumptions about breasts and our subsequent feelings about our bodies may complicate a woman's decision to breastfeed. Because bottle-feeding is so prevalent, breastfeeding may be seen as unnecessary or complicated. As a result, many women become frustrated and self-doubting when breastfeeding challenges arise.
Up-to-date information, good preparation (for both birth and breastfeeding) before baby comes, and family and community support are essential to breastfeeding success.
Help is Available
In 1956, this very idea crystallized in the minds of seven Chicago-area women. As their enthusiasm for providing mother-to-mother support spread, their resources blossomed into La Leche League International, a nonprofit organization providing information and support to women who choose to breastfeed.
There are also increasing numbers of board-certified lactation consultants and other caregivers who can provide support and quality information to mothers with breastfeeding questions or problems. Hospital-based lactation support is widely available in the Cleveland area, and many pediatricians now employ lactation consultants to directly serve their patients. Other lactation consultants are available on a private, per-visit basis.