The Benefits of Breastfeeding for Baby and Mom
Breastfeeding: Healthier for Baby
Breastfed babies have:
- Stronger immune systems
- Less diarrhea, constipation, gastroenteritis, gastroesophageal reflux, and preterm necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)
- Fewer colds and respiratory illnesses like pneumonia and whooping cough
- Fewer ear infections, especially those that damage hearing
- Less bacterial meningitis
- Better vision
- Lower rates of infant mortality
- Lower rates of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- Less illness overall and less hospitalization
- Parents have up to 6 times less absenteeism from work.
Breast milk provides abundant and easily absorbed nutritional components, antioxidants, enzymes, immune properties, and live antibodies from mother.
Mother’s more mature immune system makes antibodies to the germs which she and her baby have been exposed. These enter her milk to help protect her baby from illness. Immunoglobulin A coats the lining of the baby’s immature intestines helping prevent germs and allergens from leaking through. Breast milk also contains substances that naturally soothe infants.
Breastfed Babies May Become Healthier Children:
- Less allergies, eczema, and asthma
- Fewer childhood cancers including leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease
- Lower risk of juvenile onset diabetes
- Less Crohn’s disease and colitis
- Lower rates of respiratory illness
- Healthier jaw and tooth development, less speech and orthodontic problems
- Fewer cavities
- Less likely to become obese later in childhood
Breastfeeding helps brain development. Studies show that breastfed children have higher IQ’s, as compared to to formula fed infants.
Teens and Adults. Benefits for Life:
- Less likely to develop juvenile rheumatoid arthritis
- Less likely to develop heart disease in adulthood
- Lower risk of multiple sclerosis
- Lower rates of pre-and postmenopausal breast cancers
Breastfeeding: Healthier for Mom
Healthier Physically:
- Promotes faster weight loss after birth, burning about 500 extra calories a day to build and maintain a milk supply
- Stimulates the uterus to contract and return to normal size
- Less postpartum bleeding
- Fewer urinary tract infections
- Less chance of anemia
Healthier Emotionally:
- Breastfeeding produces the naturally soothing hormones oxytocin and prolactin that promote stress reduction and positive feelings in the nursing mother.
- Increased confidence and self-esteem.
- Increased calmness. Breastfed babies cry less overall, and less childhood illness supports the wellness of body, mind, and spirit for the whole family.
- Breastfeeding makes travel easier. Breast milk is always clean and the right temperature.
- Physical/emotional bonding between mother and child is increased. Breastfeeding promotes more skin-to-skin contact, more holding and stroking. Many feel affectionately bonding in the first years of life help reduce social and behavioral problems in both children and adults.
- Breastfeeding mothers learn to read their infant’s cues and babies learn to trust caregivers. This helps shape the infant’s early behavior.
Benefits for Life - Breastfeeding may:
- Lower the risk of breast cancer
- Lower the risk of ovarian cancer
- Lower the risk of uterine cancer
- Lower the risk of rheumatoid arthritis
- Lessen endometriosis
- Lessen osteoporosis with age
Download a printable flyer.
Sources: Sears, Martha, RN and William Sears, MD, The Breastfeeding Book, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2000. Ryan, Regina Sara, and Auletta, Deborah, RN, CLE, Breastfeeding: Your Priceless Gift to Your Baby and Yourself, Hohm Press, 2005. Galland, Leo, MD, Superimmunity for Kids, Copestone, Press, Inc., 1988.