What is Breastfeeding?
Human breastfeeding is considered the best natural feeding and breast milk is the best milk. The basic food of an infant in a mother’s milk. It is the most efficacious way to provide a baby with a caring environment and complete food. Breast milk is the ideal food for babies up to the age of 6 months. Until 4 to 5 months after birth, no other food is required by the baby.
6 Advantages of Breast Feeding:
The advantages of breastfeeding are as follows:
- Nutritive value,
- Digest ability,
- Protective value,
- Physiological benefits,
- Maternal benefits,
- Family and community benefits.
All the above key points have described in the following:
1. Nutritive Value:
It includes-
- Breast milk contains all the nutrients in the right proportion which are needed for optimum growth and development of the baby up to 4 to 6 months.
- It is crucial for the growing brain of the infant.
- It facilitates the absorption of calcium which helps in bony growth.
- It has vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, and water in the right proportion for the infant which is necessary for the maturation of the intestinal tract.
- It provides 66 calories per 100ml and contains 1.2gm protein, 3.8gm fat, and 7gms lactose.
- It provides specific nutrition for preterm babies in preterm delivery.
2. Digest ability:
It includes-
It includes-
- Breast milk is easily digestible.
- The proteins of breast milk are mostly Lacto albumin and lactoglobulin which form a soft curd that is easy to digest.
- During the digestion of fats, the enzyme lipase in breast milk helps and provides free fatty acids.
3. Protective Value:
It includes-
- It protects against malaria and various viral and bacterial infections like skin infections, septicemia, etc.
- Breastfeeding protects infants from allergies and bronchial asthma.
- It protects against neonatal hypocalcemia, tetany, neonatal convulsions, etc.
4. Physiological Benefits:
It includes-
- Breastfeeding flourishes close physical and emotional bondage with the mother by frequent skin-to-skin contact, attention, and interaction.
- Breastfeeding flourishes the development of higher intelligence and a feeling of security in infants.
5. Maternal Benefits:
It includes-
- Breastfeeding reduces the chance of postpartum hemorrhage and helps in better uterine involution.
- Breastfeeding develops metabolic efficiency and satisfaction with a sense of fulfillment of the mother.
- It reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancer of the mother.
- It is more convenient and time-saving for the other.
6. Family and Community Benefits:
It includes-
- Breastfeeding is so economical in terms of saving time, money, and energy.
- The family has to spend less on milk, health care, and illness.
- Through breastfeeding, community expenditure on health care and contraception is reduced.
- It is economic for families, communities, hospitals, and countries.
Disadvantages of Breast Feeding:
It includes-
- Lactation may not be adequate.
- Breastfeeding demands maternal proximity.
- Social life may be upset. This is applied principally to western civilizations.
- Breastfeeding increases the occurrence of problems such as cracked nipples and breast abscesses.
Maria Khatun Mona is a Founder and Editor of Nursing Exercise Blog. She is a Nursing and Midwifery Expert. Currently she is working as a Registered Nurse at Evercare Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She has great passion in writing different articles on Nursing and Midwifery. Mail her at “[email protected]”
