8 Breast Feeding Benefits and The Long Term Effect

Breast Feeding Benefits 1

Breast feeding is the single most important thing you can do to protect your baby and help to promote good health. Best of all, breast feeding is free.

Breast Feeding Benefits 2

Breast feeding can also help you to keep your medical bills down. Babies that are fed with formula get sicker more often and more seriously than babies that are breast fed They also have more ear infections, respiratory infections, and other problems.

Breast Feeding Benefits 3

When a baby is breast fed, the antibodies pass on from the mother to the baby, helping to protect against illness and allergies. As the 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.

Breast Feeding Benefits 4

Sucking on the breast will also help with the development or jaw alignment and the development of the cheekbone. For this very reason, there is less of the need for costly orthodontic work when the child gets older.

Breast Feeding Benefits 5

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 Benefits 6

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 Benefits 7

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 Benefits 8

Breast feeding will also create a special bond with the mother and the baby - which is one thing formula simpy cannot do.

Long term Breast Feeding Benefits

The important long term benefits of breast feeding include reduced risk of asthma, allergies, obesity, and some forms of childhood cancer. The more that scientists continue to learn, the better breast milk looks.

In addition to making your baby healthier, breast feeding may also make him smarter. Many studies have proved that breast fed babies tend to be more smarter than babies who were fed with formula or other methods. Breast feeding does help with nutrients and the support of brain growth, which is something every mother should think about.

The benefits for the nursing mom are just as good as they are for the baby. The hormones that are released during breast feeding will curb blood loss post delivery and help to shrink the uterus back to it's normal size.

Long term, the breast feeding mom will have a lower risk for premenopausal breast cancer, which is the kind that strikes before the age of 50. The benefits will begin to show with three to six months of breast feeding and increase the longer that breast feeding continues.

Weaning From Breast Feeding

When your baby has stopped breast feeding and gets

all of his nutrition from other sources than the

breast, he's actually considered weaned. Even

though babies are also weaned from the bottle as

well, the term weaning often refers to when a

baby is stopped from breast feeding.

When weaning is a mother's idea, it normally

requires a lot of patience and can take time,

depending on the age of your baby or toddler,

and also how well your child adjusts. The

overall experience is different for everyone.

Weaning is a long goodbye, sometimes emotional

and sometimes painful. It doesn't however, signal

fo the end to the intimacy you and your child

have developed during the nursing stage. What it

means, is that you have to replace breast feeding

with other types of nourishment.

Starting weaning

Your the best judge as to when it's the right

time to wean, and you don't really have a

deadline unless you and your child are actually

ready to wean. The recommended time for weaning

is one year. No matter what relatives, friends,

or even complete strangers tell you, there is

no right or wrong time for weaning.

How to wean

You should proceed slowly, regardless of what

the age of your child may be. Experts say

that you shouldn't abruptly withhold your breast,

as they results can be traumatic. You should

however, try these methods instead:

1. Skip a feeding - Skip a feeding and

see what happens, offering a cup of milk to your

baby instead. As a substitue, you can use a

bottle of your own pumped milk, formula, or a

cow's milk. If you reduce feedings one at a

time, your child will eventually adjust to the

changes.

2. Shorten feeding time - You can start

by cutting the length of time your child is

actually at the breast. If the normal feeding

time is 5 minuts, try 3. Depending on the age,

follow the feeding with a healthy snack. Bed

time feedings are usually the hardest to wean,

as they are normally the last to go.

3. Postpone and distract - You can

postpone feedings if you are only feeding a couple

of times per day. This method works great if

you have an older child you can actually reason

with. If your child wants the breast, say that

you'll feed later then distract him.

If you've tried everything and weaning doesn't

seem to be working at all, maybe the time just

isn't right. You can wait just a bit longer

to see what happens, as your child and you have

to determine the right time to wean together.