Breastfeeding has an important role in the prevention of different forms of childhood malnutrition, including wasting, stunting, over- and underweight, and micronutrient deficiencies. Improved breastfeeding rates have the potential to improve childhood nutrition, with associated impacts on infectious and noninfectious disease prevention. The unique composition of breastmilk, the importance of breastfeeding in infectious disease prevention, the iron status of breastfed infants, and breastfeeding’s protective effect on overweight and obesity.
The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Baby
- Breast milk contains live immunity. When a baby consumes breast milk,
- He or she receives both immediate and lifelong immunities.
- Breast milk provides the specific nutrients that meet your baby’s needs. It’s pretty amazing.
- Breastfeeding can reduce your baby’s risk of sudden infant death syndrome SID, Mothers who breastfeed for at least one year, research shows that breastfeeding as little as two months cuts the risk of SIDS in half.
- Breastfeeding allows babies to feel close to the “home base” that they’ve known while in the womb. Hearing your heartbeat and feeling your warm skin will help her transition from the inner world to the outer world.
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), a polyunsaturated fatty acid found in breast milk, helps support proper brain development.
- Breastfeeding can reduce your baby’s risk of developing middle ear infections.
- Breastfeeding can reduce your baby’s chances of developing allergies.
- Breastfeeding can reduce your baby’s risk of developing diabetes, since breast milk contains no artificial sugar.
Breastfeeding also can benefit the mother by:
- Reducing her risk of developing osteoporosis
- Reducing her breast cancer risk
- Reducing her ovarian cancer risk
- Producing oxytocin, which helps contract the uterus back to its pre-pregnancy size
- Burning calories and using mom’s fat stores for her breast milk
- Lowering her chance of developing postpartum depression, since breastfeeding enables pregnancy hormones to decrease slowly, instead of abruptly
- Saving money, since breastfeeding is free!
The following help increasing breastmilk supply:
- Ensure that baby is attaching well and removing milk efficiently from the breast
- be prepared to feed your baby more frequently — breastfeed on demand every 2-3 hours at least 8-12 times in 24 hours
- Switch your baby from one breast to the other; offer each breast twice
- Ensure your breasts are emptied well at each feed or pumping session; you can express after breastfeeds to make sure its empty.
- When your baby is feeding, compress your breast to aid milk flow as this will also encourage more effective sucking
- Make sure you are drinking a lot of water, eating a healthy balanced diet, and not missing meals
- Also ensure you are resting as much as possible between feeds.
Breast-feeding benefits infants because breast milk contains the ideal mix of nutrients for infants, because it contains factors that promote the development of the infant’s gut and immune system and which prevent pathogen invasion, and because exclusive breast-feeding prevents intake of pathogens in food or water.
Therefore its very important to breastfeed our infants.
The author is Kamara Daniel Clinical and Community Nutritionist. Follow him on Twitter @Kamaradaniel3
Do you have a story or an opinion to share? Email us on: [email protected] Or join the Daily Express WhatsApp channel for all the latest news and trends or join the Telegram Channel for the latest updates.
