We couldn’t stress more on breastfeeding importance. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) even recommends exclusive breastfeeding (only breast milk, no water, no formula, no solid food) for 6 months. Why do pediatricians care about all these? Because they know the many advantages of human milk to babies, to mums, and the environment. Let’s take a look at the secret of liquid gold!
Benefits of Breastfeeding for Baby
Reduce the risk of:
- Asthma (shortness of breath)
- Diabetes (Type 1 and 2)
- Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
- Obesity and overweight
- Allergies
- Diarrhea & Vomiting
- Ear infections (otitis media)
- Respiratory tract infection
- Leukemia (blood cancer)
- Urinary tract infection
Infants’ nutrition can affect their health status later in life, therefore, to ensure optimal infant nutrition becomes a public health issue. According to WHO, up to 59% of infants did not receive exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months of their lives. Many of the health problems listed above could be prevented if exclusive breastfeeding was introduced.
Benefits of Breastfeeding for Mother
1. Lose weight
You have a higher chance to lose your pregnancy weight faster when you breastfeed. Breastfeeding requires approximately 500 calories per day.
2. Uterus Recovery
Breastfeeding fastens the process of uterine involution, which means getting your pre-pregnancy uterus back. Your body will release oxytocin during nursing, which helps to reduce the size of the uterus back to your non-pregnant state. You will also experience less postpartum bleeding while nursing.
Tip: Using a postnatal belly bany can help uterus recovery as well!
3. Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer & Ovarian Cancer
Many evidence suggested that women who breastfeed have a lesser chance to develop breast cancer and ovarian cancer later in life.
*The chances are low but you can indeed develop breast cancer while breastfeeding. Breastfeeding does not make you immune to breast cancer.
4. Lower Risk of High Blood Pressure
Breastfeeding exclusively for 6 months could also reduce the risk of getting high blood pressure.
5. Type 2 Diabetes (T2D)
One of the characteristics of T2D is a high sugar level. Producing milk, feeding your baby requires quite ample amounts of sugar, sugar level drops after a nursing session.
Benefits of Breastfeeding for Mother Nature
Nursing your child has multiple environmental benefits.
To name a few:
- No pollution.
Unlike producing infant formula, breastfeeding doesn’t require manufacturing, packaging, or transportation. - Eco-friendly
Producing human milk doesn’t require scarce resources, it also saves up energy! - Low carbon footprint
When there’s no transportation, there are no carbon emissions.
We’ve briefly mentioned the many advantages of breastfeeding from 3 aspects, however, to breastfeed or not is totally up to your choice. We are here to inform you about the benefits of human milk, and perhaps you would be more willing to try breastfeeding. Please don’t be offended if you bottle feed, we are only promoting breastfeeding for a good cause.
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