Breastfeeding is the most natural and normal way of providing all the required nutrients to the infants that are essential for their healthy development and growth. Almost all mothers have the capacity to breast feed their child, but in some cases lack of adequate information or misconceptions keep the baby deprived of his birthright, which is the breast milk.

1. Benefits of Breast Feeding
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2. • Breastfeeding is the most natural and normal way of
providing all the required nutrients to the infants that are
essential for their healthy development and growth.
• Almost all mothers have the capacity to breast feed their
child, but in some cases lack of adequate information or
misconceptions keep the baby deprived of his birthright,
which is the breast milk.
Benefits of Breastfeeding

3. • The breast milk contains a yellowish, sticky substance known
as colostrums that is produced naturally the moment
pregnancy ends and the baby is delivered.
• It is the perfect food for the newly born baby and hence
doctors advise initiation of the feeding within the first hour
from the birth.
• Health practitioners advise exclusive breastfeeding for six
months of age and continued feeding of breast milk for
around two years along with appropriate complementary
foods.

4. Benefits of Breastfeeding for Children
• Breast milk is irreplaceable and no other nutritional food
source can replace it adequately including the various infant
formulas available in the market.
• There is a possibility that the breast milk has some
accumulation of pollutants, however, even then it remains
much superior food formula for the infant as compared to
any other options.

5. • The small infants are more vulnerable to diseases and are
fragile because their bodies are yet to develop fully.
• It necessitates special care and need of adequate
nourishment.
• Although the infant formula available in the market can
mimic some of the nutritional components present in the
breast milk, they cannot fully replace the vast and
constantly changing different types of essential nutrients
that a mother’s milk offers.

6. • Sadly, in many countries, breastfeeding is devalued quite
often and unfortunately has to compete with the artificially
prepared infant formula companies who advertise their
products with such a gloss that the modern mothers are
tempted to replace the breast milk with such mimicked
product.
Studies indicate that breastfeeding offers several health
benefits. Some of them include:
• Children who are breastfed have more resistance towards
diseases and infection than the formula fed babies.

7. • Breastfed children also are less likely to suffer from
several diseases in the later part of their life such as
juvenile diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis and
cancer especially that affects kids below 15 years of age.
• Breastfeeding mothers have less chances of developing
osteoporosis during the middle age and are able to lose the
pregnancy weight much faster.

8. Benefits of Breastfeeding in the Early Few
years of the Child
• Different studies have suggested how breastfeeding
increases immunity of the child against infection and
diseases.
Some such facts include:
• Studies reveal that during nursing the antibodies are
passed on by the mother to the child due to which the
child’s body becomes resistant to different diseases and
infection and hence improves the child’s response to
certain vaccines given for increasing immunity.

9. • Formula-fed children are more prone to respiratory
illnesses than the breast milk fed kids.
• Rather one of the research studies indicate that infants
brought up on formula feeding have three times more risk
of being hospitalized for severe respiratory conditions than
the infants feeding on breast milk.
• The consequences of diarrhea are three to four times more
in the infants feeding on formula food.

10. • Breastfeeding also improves immunity towards several
infections including ear infection, which is quite common
among young children.
• Recent researches also have suggested that the probability
of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is much less in the
breast-fed babies.
• The breast-fed babies are less at risk of acquiring allergies
such as eczema.

12. Benefits of Breastfeeding for Children in
Later Life
• The benefits of breastfeeding are not confined only to the
first few years of development of the child. Rather it
continues even in the later part of his life.
Some such benefits that become quite evident as the child
grows into adult are:
• Breastfed infants have lesser tendency of having dental
cavities all through their lives.

13. • Breastfed children are less likely to become obese in later
part of their childhood whereas the formula fed babies are
at 20 to 30 percent risk of becoming obese.
• Breastfeeding reduces the risk of juvenile diabetes,
cancer, blood pressure, heart disease, and behavioral,
psychological and learning problems in children.
• The breast milk fed children show better cognitive
development and understanding.

14. How Does Breastfeeding Benefit the Mother?
• Studies reveal that breastfeeding plays a major role in
improving the health of both mother and the child. Just as
the breast milk nourishes the baby, similarly its production
and delivery helps in maintaining the health of the mother.
Some of the benefits of breastfeeding for the mother include:
• Regular breastfeeding helps a woman lose her pregnancy
weight after the birth.

15. • During the lactation as the milk is produced, many calories
are automatically burned. Rather for some, the weight gain
during pregnancy serves as a source of energy for producing
milk.
• During the breastfeeding, a hormone called oxytocin is
released that helps the uterus to come to its normal size
quickly.
• According to scientists, breastfeeding is one of the most
effective ways to control pregnancy than using condom or
diaphragm, which is why in many African countries the
mothers keep on nursing their children for couple of years.

16. • Breastfeeding reduces the risk of mothers of developing
the osteoporosis after forty. Although the process of
feeding leads to bone-mineral loss, the density of minerals
is replenished after lactation naturally.
• Diabetic women can expect their health to improve due to
breastfeeding and women with family history of cancer are
24% less likely to develop breast cancer.
• Women who breastfeed also have reduced risk of
developing endometrial, uterine or ovarian cancer.

17. Economic and Social Benefits of
Breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding offers economic as well as social
advantages. It is much cheaper than any formula food and
keeps medical bills to minimum because it equips the baby
against diseases and infection.
• You never have to worry about feeding your baby as the
food is always with you.
• On the other hand, a mother feeding formula food has to
take all the proper care of the bottles and utensils and
hygiene related to it making travelling a bit messy affair.

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