How Exclusive Breastfeeding Benefits Your Baby

Nature is wise and has created mother’s milk in mammals for one reason: to keep newborn beings alive and provide food. Breast milk is the most natural first food for babies and breastfeeding offers a number of benefits for both mother and child.

Every day, millions of mothers around the world make one of the most important decisions in their babies’ lives: whether to exclusively breastfeed or not. According to research by the World Health Organization (WHO), breastfeeding could save the lives of more than 820,000 children each year.  Globally, only 40% of babies under six months are exclusively breastfed and fewer and fewer moms are choosing to breastfeed due to the demands of society.

There are many campaigns that exist in our society to motivate women who can exclusively breastfeed their babies during the first six months of their babies’ life. That although the campaign is very good, there should also be another to raise awareness among the rest of society, especially the labor companies that hinder women to be able to exclusively raise their babies due to lack of aid and resources. Raising awareness among mothers is very good, but raising awareness among the rest of society should also be a priority.

BREAST MILK

Breast milk is the most natural first food for babies and breastfeeding offers a number of benefits for both mother and child. Discover some of its long-term benefits for your baby.

Improve baby’s immunity

Breast milk contains antibodies that help prevent common illnesses in newborns and infants, including diarrhea and respiratory infections. Breast milk also contains all the nutrients that babies need for healthy development.

Long-term positive effects

Breastfeeding helps the baby to be in good health and also to have good brain development. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to be overweight or obese as they grow older. There are studies that say that they can also have a higher IQ than those who were not. They are also less likely to have type 2 diabetes, asthma, or allergies.

Milk adapted to the baby

The milk mother adapts to the baby to meet all your needs, although the latter change. For example, colostrum is thicker and yellower and is produced after delivery, before the milk rises, and is full of antibodies that a newborn baby needs. If the baby gets sick, nature knows it and adapts the milk so that it has more defenses.

Breast milk is an ideal combination of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, and vitamins and minerals; It may also contain more anti-infective properties if a baby is exposed to a new bacteria or virus.

Exclusive breastfeeding is also good for the mother

Breastfeeding helps reduce the mother’s risks of breast and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and postpartum depression. It also helps new mothers lose their regained weight in less time.

But as if that weren’t enough, exclusive breastfeeding also creates a strong and very special bond between mother and baby. It generates a physical closeness that promotes secure attachment between mother and child. The act of feeding the baby helps release oxytocin in the mother’s brain. This hormone increases a woman’s feelings of love, trust, and affection. While breastfeeding, a baby can also hear his mother’s heartbeat and smell her scent, which also helps calm and soothe the baby.