What Are The Benefits Of Breast Feeding?
Of course you want to give your baby the best start in life and breast feeding is the single most important thing you can do to protect your baby and help to promote his good health. Another of the many benefits of breast feeding is that it costs absolutely nothing!
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.
This can be even more true if your family has had a history of allergies. When a baby is breast fed, the antibodies pass on from the mother to the baby, helping to protect against illness and allergies. As your baby’s system matures, his body will begin to make it’s own antibodies and he’ll be more equipped to handle sensitivities of food.
The action of sucking on the breast actually helps develop and align the jaw. This could prevent expensive orthodontic work needing to be performed as baby gows older.
Unlike formula, breast milk is always ready, always available, convenient, and always the right temperature for feeding. Plus, it contains all of the vitamins and minerals your growing baby needs, saving you a lot of money.
Breast feeding also offers many benefits for the mom as well. The baby sucking at the breast will cause contractions right after birth, leading to less bleeding for the mom, and helping her uterus to it’s shape before pregnancy much faster. Breast feeding will also burn calories, so a mom can lose weight much faster than if she fed her baby with a bottle. Breast feeding will also create a special bond with the mother and the baby - which is one thing formula simpy cannot do.
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.