Breastfeeding Benefits

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Medically, breastfeeding is considered the best possible start for a baby. It provides the baby with all of the required nutrients for the first six months of life and also, doesn’t just help to protect infants from infection, but has other benefits. Women should be encouraged and supported to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of an infant’s life and continue to breastfeed for the first year and beyond (Nursing for Women’s Health, 2015). However, socially breastfeeding is very unpopular partially due to lack of knowledge. Women are not taught properly how to breastfeed and so feel that they cannot do it. AWHONN partners with other maternal-child health organisations to improve cultural, institutional and socioeconomic systems …show more content…
Some of which may be slightly controversial in regards with mothers that do not breastfeed. Benefits of breastfeeding for the baby include, bonding with the mother, a reduced risk of developing asthma, fewer gastrointestinal infections, fewer respiratory infections, a reduced chance of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), raised long term cardiovascular health, lower risk of obesity in later life and raised cognitive function. The mother’s milk also provides the baby with protection against allergies, urinary tract infections (UTIs) and insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Benefits of breastfeeding for the mother include bonding with the baby, weight loss, a lower risk of developing ovarian cancer, a lower risk of developing breast cancer, a lower risk of osteoporosis, fertility regulation and of course it’s …show more content…
Mothers can do this by eating a healthy balanced diet throughout pregnancy. Nutrition during pregnancy should aim to achieve sufficient energy intake to support the development of the baby (Dunne, 2012). The intake of certain vitamins and minerals while pregnant are particularly important for the growing baby such as vitamin D and folic acid as well as others.
For breastfeeding mothers it is also important for them to maintain their nutritional diet as nutrients travel through the mother’s milk for the baby to ingest. Exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life helps to protect the young infant from common infections (Dunne, 2012) and greatly reduces the risk of the infant becoming obese in later life. Once a baby passes six months solid food must be introduced into their diet as breast/formula milk no longer supplies all of the nutritional needs of the growing infant.
Malnutrition and