What’s so special about breastmilk anyway?

Congratulations on your little one! You may already be convinced of the convenience and closeness of breastfeeding. As a nutritional therapist – one of my favourite health benefits of breastfeeding your baby has to be the superior, bespoke composition of nutrients which change with each feed, and correspond to the baby’s life stage, and the time of day or night. You can’t get more ‘on-demand’ than that!

Breastmilk also contains hormones and growth factors to help the baby develop, beneficial gut bacteria, Omega 3 fatty acids, digestive enzymes to aid digestion, antibodies to assist baby’s immature immune system to resist infections and of course – special hormones to regulate baby’s sleep!

Benefits for Baby

According to the WHO, the advantages of breastfeeding for mother and baby are plentiful. They report that breastfed children:

– perform better on intelligence tests at about age 8
– are less likely to be overweight or obese
– are less likely to develop diabetes in later life
– are less likely to suffer with ear, chest, and gastrointestinal infections, constipation, eczema, asthma, allergies amongst other illnesses. (This does not mean that your baby won’t get ill from time to time of course).
– have some protection against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
Research shows that a breastfed baby exposed to varying flavours in the womb and via breastfeeding, and continuing when introducing solids – will all increase children’s willingness to try new foods, so long as the meal environment is a positive one. This bodes well for many hundreds of future mealtimes…!

Benefits for Mum

The WHO report that women who breastfeed have a reduced risk of developing porous bones (osteoporosis), cardiovascular disease, breast and ovarian cancers. We also know that breastfeeding helps your uterus to shrink to its pre-pregnancy size. It appears that breastfeeding mums may also be able to lose weight more quickly than those who are bottle feeding.

NEXT WEEK: How do I produce nutritious breastmilk?