What are the benefits of breastfeeding?
Table of Contents
Breastmilk is feted for its tremendous benefits for the health of your baby.
Scientists say that breastmilk has antibodies that help to strengthen your baby’s immunity against various bacteria and viruses.
This protects your baby from frequent infections like respiratory infections or stomach bugs that cause diarrhea.
Breastmilk is also said to have health benefits on your child’s gut.
For babies who have been prematurely born, breastmilk has a great contribution to their growth and maturity for them to attain the required weight.
Besides, the process of breastfeeding creates a very strong love bond between the mother and the baby.
Breastfeeding is recommended above any other type of feeding due to the tremendous benefits it has on the mother and the baby.
The baby benefits by building a strong immunity that not only protects but helps them fight any pesky infections that may come their way.
For the mother, the act of breastfeeding has benefits in helping her lose the weight she gained during pregnancy.
It is known that breastfeeding is also a way of family planning because of the changes in the mother’s body.
It is a known fact that babies don’t breastfeed not only for nutrition but also for comfort, soothing, and a sense of security.
The process of breastfeeding also works to bond the mother and the baby which is a good thing for the baby’s emotional health.
As beneficial as breastfeeding is to the health of both the mother and the baby, some mothers are unable to successfully breastfeed their babies.
For some, it is because they have to go back to work or school immediately, others because the baby has difficulty latching properly on the breast.
Some babies are born prematurely which makes breastfeeding an impossible affair.
Other mothers may be having two or more babies who get fussy and hungry at the same time.
Some mothers just find breastfeeding a difficult and tedious process and altogether just opt-out of it.
This then causes these mothers to choose how they want their babies fed.
While some mothers may opt to feed their babies on formula, some mothers opt to express their breastmilk so that their babies do not miss out on the goodness that comes with it.
The most common method of expressing breastmilk is by using a breast pump to pump out milk so that your baby can benefit from it.
Expressed milk can be fed to the baby using different methods like bottle feeding, tube feeding, or any other method that will be beneficial to the baby.
Benefits of breast pumping
Pumping breastmilk has been seen to be a way mothers can ensure that their babies get the best benefits from breastmilk.
There are also other benefits associated with pumping breastmilk.
You will be able to work around medical problems affecting the baby for example if your baby has been born prematurely.
Some medical conditions also make it difficult for the baby to latch properly on the breast.
Expressing this milk for such a baby helps them to not miss out on the benefits associated with breastmilk.
Some injuries or wounds during birth can make breastfeeding a difficult process.
Therefore, as you heal, you can express the breastmilk for your baby so that they do not miss out on its benefits.
Another benefit is that it gives relief for busy or working mothers.
When you pump breastmilk for your baby, other caregivers can give the baby milk in a bottle while you are away or you are unavailable for the feed.
Another advantage it gives you in this is that despite a busy schedule, you can keep your milk supply flowing since it is the frequency of feeding that increases milk supply.
This can also help in controlling the feeding times for your baby which sets a routine.
Disadvantages of breast pumping
Like everything with advantages, breast pumping also has its disadvantages.
The most commonly spoken of disadvantage is the effect it has on the bond between the mother and the baby.
As convenient as it may be for the mother to pump milk for the baby, bottle feeding does not have the same bonding effect between the mother and the baby.
The skin-to-skin contact between you and your baby during breastfeeding goes a long way in developing your baby’s security and bond with you.
Bottle feeding is also said to cause several problems for the baby.
One is in the nipple confusion for the baby.
A bottle-fed baby will tend to prefer it to breastfeeding because of the suckling mechanism required for each of the methods.
There is a lot of suckling effort needed to draw milk from the bottle and more milk comes out of the bottle.
The baby may use the same suckling effort to try and draw more milk for your breast which might result in you having sore nipples.
Bottle feeding is also known to cause tooth decay in babies.
This is because milk is retained in the mouth during the bottle-feeding process.
The sugar in the milk will act on the teeth during this process thus causing decay.
Bottle feeding also has the hustle of having to prepare each feed before giving it to the baby.
This preparation and storage process can lead to contamination of the milk which can affect the baby.
Disadvantages on the mothers’ health
Breast pumping does not have the same effect breastfeeding has on the body of the mother.
One of the advantages that breastfeeding has on the mother’s body is that during the process of breastfeeding, your uterus contracts to its pre-pregnancy size.
This does not happen when you are pumping milk since the oxytocin is produced with the skin-to-skin contact between you and the baby.
This increases the length of time for the body to heal.
Breast pumping is known to cause damage to the breast and nipple tissue.
The wrong setting can cause you excruciating pain on your breast.
This damage to these tissues can increase risks like mastitis or cracked nipples which can cause other more serious problems in the future.
There is however no evidence that using a breast pump can cause cancer in the later stages.
More research will be required to ascertain this.