Because it's worth it. The American Academy of Pediatrics is so gung-ho on the health benefits of breastfeeding that they recommend mothers nurse their infants for the entire first year of life, if not longer. Human milk contains the ideal proportions of more than two hundred ingredients -- including protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antibodies -- that aren't duplicated in any formula. These ingredients provide not only the essential building blocks of growth, but also protect infants from illness. Research shows that breastfed babies have a lower incidence of ear infections, upper respiratory infections, asthma, allergies, and possibly even serious chronic illness such as juvenile diabetes and childhood cancer, particularly lymphoma.
Breastfeeding also confers some important health benefits on mothers:
Breastfeeding also confers some important health benefits on mothers:
- It will help shrink your uterus back to its normal size
- use up fat stores accumulated during pregnancy, which contributes to postpartum weight loss
- suppress your menstrual periods, which helps to replenish iron stores lost during pregnancy and childbirth
- and even confers some protection against more serious illness like osteoporosis, hip fracture, and breast and ovarian cancer. Not to mention that all-important emotional connection fostered by the intimate contact involved in breastfeeding.
