The Benifits of Breastfeeding Your Baby


by Brooke Schuman - Date: 2007-01-08 - Word Count: 518 Share This!

Breastfeeding, although not the easiest thing to do, is undoubtedly the best thing that you can do for your baby. Yes it takes practice and is time consuming, but there are more than quite a few benefits of breastfeeding your baby than you might think.

When you breastfeed your baby, not only is it nutritious for your baby but it is a bonding experience every time you feed your baby. Breastfeeding makes a strong bond between mother and child.

Studies suggest that breastfeeding can reduce the risk of breast cancer.

Breastfeeding can help you burn up to 500 extra calories per day. You may feel more hungry but you will get rid of all of those unwanted pregnancy pounds in no time at all when you breastfeed.

Nighttime feedings are easier, instead of going to the refrigerator and then warming up some formula, you just have to put a very hungry baby to your breast and there you go. You can relax and feed your baby at the same time. There are many ways of feeding your baby as well, you can lie down, or just hold them in the traditional way. They even have boppys which are little pillows that you rest baby on so your arms don't get tired. What an easy way to feed baby!

Babies are born to breastfeed, just like cows or any other baby animals that nurse. This is just the natural thing to do. There are over 100 different ingredients in breast milk that you can't find in cow's milk, and can't be made in a laboratory. Your breast milk provides just the right amount of sugars, fats, antibodies, everything that your baby needs to grow.

Breast milk is free- It costs up to $15 to buy a can of formula, which adds up when your baby is drinking a bottle every 3 to 4 hours. Half used cans or half drank bottles have to be thrown away when using formula, proven to be wasteful. With breast milk all you have to do is stop nursing.

Breastfeeding is more convenient than formula, no bottles to sanitize, no having to make sure a bottle is clean when you have a screaming baby that wants to eat. Your breast milk is always on hand just the right temperature and just enough to fill baby up.

Nursing fulfills babies sucking needs. It is like a pacifier as babies can continue sucking on an empty breast but not an empty bottle, for that can cause air to get in their tummies.

Babies who nurse are less obese than babies that drink formula. The baby who bottle feeds tends to drink until the milk is all gone, while the breastfeed baby gets more fat at the end of the breast milk which makes him/her feel full.

Babies that nurse are building up their immune systems. Through their mother's breast milk they are getting antibodies and overall these babies will get fewer colds and will have fewer health problems than those babies that drink formula.

These are just some of the benefits of breast milk…there are many others as well. Do what's best for your baby and breastfeed.


Related Tags: baby, breastfeeding, benifit

Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles

© The article above is copyrighted by it's author. You're allowed to distribute this work according to the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs license.
 

Recent articles in this category:



Most viewed articles in this category: