Breastfeeding

How Long Should You Breastfeed? Its Benefits

Breastfeeding

What is Breastfeeding?

Many old ladies say that breastfeeding is very necessary for your baby as well as for the mother also. Every new mom feels a special closeness during breastfeeding their newborn.  Breastfeeding helps to create a strong bonding experience or positive experience between mother and baby. We cannot express this beautiful bonding of the world.

Breastfeeding is also called ‘Nursing’. We can say, breast milk is an “Ambrosia”. Breast milk is a big and good source of essential nutrition for babies. As the baby grows, breast milk changes naturally according to the child’s nutritional needs. 

We all are familiar with the first milk of a mother. The mother’s first milk produces ‘Colostrum’, that first milk is very useful for the baby, even a small amount of milk is valuable to the newborn. The first milk contains more than just nutrition. It is also rich in antibodies and other immune factors that protect your baby from some illnesses and diseases. It makes your child smarter and cleverer.

Making the decision to breastfeed is an individual matter. Drawing opinions from loved ones like friends and family members is likewise one that is possible.

Many medical experts including Physicians, Obstetricians, and Gynecologists’ recommend strongly to new moms breastfeed their infants for 6 months.

How often you should breastfeed your baby is totally depending upon your baby’s health. It is different in all babies. Some babies are hungrier and some are not. As your baby grows day by day, the breastfeeding cycle may change. Generally, newborns want to feed after every 2 to 3 hours. After 2 months, it may change again, the baby feeds every 3 to 4 hours and after 6 months, most babies feed every 4 to 5 hours in a day.

Some Benefits of Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is good for the infant as well as the mother. It helps to protect both of them against several diseases and illnesses. First, we see the breastfeeding benefits of short.

So, we see the list of benefits for infants and moms:

Benefits for Infants:

Infants who are breastfed have a lower risk of:

  • Respiratory disease
  • Ear infections
  • Asthma
  • Obesity
  • Gastrointestinal diseases including diarrhea and vomiting
  • Type 1 diabetes

Benefits for Moms:

Moms who are breastfeeding their babies have a lower risk of:

  • High Blood Pressure
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Breast cancer
  • Type 2 diabetes

As above, we can see the short information, now we can see the benefits of breastfeeding for the baby as well as the mom in detail.

Breast milk is good for the baby in many ways:

  • It contains the proper amount of nutrition that is required by your baby to grow, including proteins, carbohydrates, fats, and calcium. All these nutrients are provided in a form that is easily digested by an infant.
  • It includes essential nutrients and vitamins that a baby needs in the first six months.
  • Many of us say that breast milk is an ideal food for a baby to promote growth and development.
  • Breast milk also contains an immunity-boosting substance that helps to protect your newborn baby from various diseases.
  • Natural antibodies are provided by breast milk to help your child resist ear infections and it also helps your baby fight off viruses and bacteria.
  • It provides protection against the risk of having asthma or allergies.
  • The first breast milk contains many essential nutrients and antibodies. It is rich in immunoglobin A which is the major type of antibody, that protects the digestive system of your baby and helps to kill several viruses and bacteria.
  • Also provides protection from chest infections and many other health issues.
  • It creates physical closeness, skin-to-skin touching, and nice eye contact to help your baby feel cozy, comfortable, and secure.
  • Breastfeeding helps to reduce gassy and constipation.
  • Breast milk reduces the risk of being overweight, asthma, allergies, high cholesterol, and Hodgkin’s disease.
  • According to AAP, breastfeeding plays a vital role in the prevention of SIDS(sudden infant death syndrome).

Breast milk is good for mothers too:

  • It helps to burn the extra calories which are increased in pregnancy.
  • It helps the new mom to retain her figure faster by weight loss after delivery.
  • Postpartum bleeding and depression are reduced with the help of breastfeeding.
  • Exclusive breastfeeding brings down the hazard of hip fractures and osteoporosis in the postmenopausal period.
  • One vital thing about breastfeeding is that it decreases the workload of the mother, by saving her valuable time, energy and effort. Efforts mean, no need to mix, measure or clean up the baby bottles and no need to worry about the spoiling of milk.

Simple Tips for Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is a kind of skill and technique for you as well as your baby.

Tips are as follows:

  • First, stay a baby and you (it means new mom) together after the baby’s birth
  • Then getting your position and your attachment right means holding your newborn skin to skin.
  • Being patient means it is harder for some new mothers and babies. While trying to breastfeed, don’t frustrated, and do not be angry at yourself.
  • You should feed according to the need of your baby.
  • Don’t eat other spicy food, or junk food while you breastfeed. Eating healthy and nutritious food means keeping a healthy diet.

How Long Should You Breastfeed?

It is a big question for new moms how long should they breastfeed their child? Some mothers breastfeed their child for a few weeks only, some mothers continue this breastfeeding cycle for long-term means till the baby’s age of 1 to 2 years.

One thing to keep in mind is that even a few weeks of breastfeeding also have benefits.

If you are a working woman or you are doing a job in a certain company, still you should be compulsory to breastfeed your baby for 6 months.

If your child is breastfed for a long period of time, the baby gains more protection from certain illnesses and long-term diseases. And breastfeeding also helps new moms to lose pregnancy weight.

In this way, ultimately, the breastfeeding decision is totally up to you because you and your baby both of you are unique. And both of you only know what is the best.

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