Here are some of the benefits of breastfeeding from the book 'Pre-parenting: Nurturing your child from conception' (by Thomas R. Verny, M.D. and Pamela Weintraub). I really recommend every parent to read it, but if you can't find the time, then make sure to also have a look at my previous blog post about a quick summary and my favorite points from the book by clicking HERE!
- When the baby is breastfeeding, there is an outpouring of 19 different gastrointestinal hormones in both the mother and the infant, which stimulate growth of the baby’s and mother’s intestinal villi, increasing absorption of calories.
- If you breastfeed in the first hour after birth, the mother will decide to keep her baby 100 minutes longer in her hospital room than mother who lack this early contact.
- Mothers who breastfeed for just three months can reduce their child’s rick of sudden infant death syndrome, pneumonia, ear infection, allergies, obesity, meningitis, Crohn’s disease, colitis, cirrhosis and lymphoma.
- Breastfeeding can delay or prevent the onset of diabetes in children. They’re also at far less risk for having asthma later in life.
- Formula-fed babies are 6.9 times more likely to develop dehydrating diarrhea than exclusively breast-fed babies.
- Breast-fed infants have better immunity, superior vision, and higher IQ than formula-fed counterparts.
- Having been breast-fed as a child reduces breast cancer risk in women over 40 by 25%.
- Mothers who breastfeed are at less risk for osteoporosis, cancer and postpartum depression than mother’s who don’t.
- Breastfeeding can help you to return to your pre-pregnancy weight faster as well as reducing the risk of ovarian and premenopausal breast cancer.
- This heart-to-heart communication initiates in the mother the production of neurohormones associated with nurturing and love.
