What is Breastfeeding?

Breastfeeding is an age old practice which deals with feeding new born infants their mothers’ breast milk. Breast milk is created automatically during pregnancy through a process called lactation. With recent advances in science and technology however, nursing an infant has in some instances been replaced with instant formula.

It is important to note that breastfeeding is a healthy option for the child as well as the mother and can play an important role in maternal and child health.

The Link between Child Health and Nursing

There are many reasons why breastfeeding is the best option for every mother and child. Besides creating a strong bond between the two, there have been many studies which have proved the existence of a strong link between maternal and child health with nursing.

Breast milk is the natural solution. Not only does breast milk contain every nutrient that infants need for the first six months, it also increases the child’s resistance to infections via the antibodies it possesses and helps with brain development. This is as opposed to babies who are fed instant formula, which increases the chances that they will have lower intelligence levels than children who have been breastfed.

Nursing a child increases the infants’ speech capacity, development of the oral cavity and better eyesight as the child grows. Are you looking for maternal and child health nursing assistance online? There are heaps of websites around that can help out with all of your maternal and child health nursing needs.

What are the Risks of not being Breastfed?

There are not a lot of things that are harder to watch than a sick child who is unable to verbalise what he is feeling or where it hurts. The chances of this scenario becoming a reality go up the instant a mother makes the choice to provide her child with the nutrition that comes out of an instant formula pack rather than breastfeed. Besides not providing the child with every essential nutrient and impeding the infants’ physical and intellectual development to a certain degree, babies who are not breastfed are in the high risk category when it comes to cot deaths and are more prone to allergies and so on.

The Link between Maternal Health and Nursing

Breastfeeding can do wonders for maternal health as well. Not only will breastfeeding make your baby healthier, it will help your body adjust to the fact that you have had your baby and begin its process of returning to its pre-pregnancy state. Studies have proven that a large percentage of mothers who breastfed reported a dramatic loss of excess weight gained during the pregnancy, which they linked to the fact that they chose nursing over instant formula.

Another advantage of breastfeeding is that a large percentage of mothers who breastfeed notice that nursing their new born delays the return of menstruation. This leaves mothers feeling a lot more energetic and reduces the possibility of stomach cramps.

What are the Risks of not Breastfeeding?

Women who do not breastfeed automatically increase their risk levels for ovarian cancer, breast, and cervical cancer and so on.

Other Reasons to Breastfeed

Besides playing an important role in child and maternal health, breastfeeding also offers a host of practical advantages to new parents, or more specifically, new mothers.

• It saves money. Store bought instant formula, besides being detrimental to maternal and child health is extremely expensive. As children grow and their intake increases, the amount of money spent on buying instant formula is bound to hit the roof.
  
  Breastfeeding on the other hand is natural and free.
• It is convenient. Feeding a child instant formula, especially outside the home can be quite a task. Bags that contain feeding bottles, formula, water and so on need to be carried everywhere the parents go with the child. Making the formula in an environment outside of the home may not be the most hygienic and therefore not the best way to take care of child and maternal health.
  
  This does not become a problem with breast milk.

Finally, breastfeeding can act as a natural contraceptive. Ninety-eight percent of mothers who are in the process of breastfeeding and have not started menstruating within the first six months will attest to the fact that breastfeeding acts as a natural contraceptive.