What are the Breastfeeding Advantages? The Top 10 Breastfeeding Advantages for Mother and Baby

May 30, 2024
Posted by Equisential

Breastfeeding advantages are not only limited to an infant, they extend to the nursing mother too. Breastfeeding is a powerful experience where you nourish the babies with your own breastmilk by latching them to your own breasts. It is also a traditional way. However, remember, regardless how you choose to breastfeed your baby, as long as it is breast milk, it should be considered as breastfeeding.

In a country like India, the traditional way of breastfeeding their babies is still followed. It is advised to breastfeed the babies at least for 6 months, and it can be extended up to 2 years. In fact, extended breastfeeding sessions are quite common in India.

Breastfeeding advantages go way beyond your baby! Breastfeeding advantages may vary, from creating a strong bond between you and your baby to providing healthy probiotics to the baby and even reducing the risk of breast cancer among you. Along with the optimum growth and development of the baby, it may also increase the time between your pregnancies as a mother.

So many studies have shown that for a best possible start for a baby, mother’s milk is essential and crucial. It is an ideal way of providing them nutrients which are not found in other formulas. Also, when you choose to breastfeed, your body secrets the love hormone and makes you feel food.

With this blog, get to know about the significant breastfeeding advantages for moms and babies. There is no doubt that there will be numerous more advantages of nursing but you’ll get to know some of the breastfeeding advantages here with us.

Breastfeeding Advantages for Infants

A mother’s milk is rich of vitamins, minerals, proteins, antibodies etc. so, it is ideal to say that the benefit of breastfeeding for infant are many. Your milk will help the baby to have a healthy growth and development along with a healthy immune system. Few of the benefits of breast milk for infants are :

One of the major benefits of breastfeeding for infants is that your milk contains all the essential and vital nutrients and antibodies that they require essentially in the first 6 months.
Mother’s milk, while breastfeeding their infants, contains major proteins, vitamins, minerals, antibodies, fats, etc. for their growth and development.
The number of antibodies present in your milk will help in developing a healthy immune system for infants. This reduces the risk of common illnesses in babies, such as diarrhea, allergies, respiratory illnesses, infections, etc.
If you are breastfeeding your baby, you are definitely lowering the risk of SIDS, which is Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Most SIDS cases occur in the first 6 months of a baby’s life.
Your milk also contains long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) and other nutrients that are important for brain development and functioning.
It may also reduce the risk of ear infections and type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
It also promotes healthy weight gain and may reduce the risk of obesity.
Breastfeeding also improves bone density because of the nutrients available in your milk.
Another benefit of breastfeeding is that it promotes a healthy digestive system in the baby, as your milk contains probiotics and prebiotics.
Breastfeeding your child will ensure that your baby receives all the ideal nutrition.

There may be more breastfeeding advantages for the babies, and we have mentioned a few of them above.

Breastfeeding Advantages for Mom

The advantages of breastfeeding are not only limited to an infant. There are numerous benefits that a mom can have by breastfeeding. Few of the breastfeeding advantages for moms are as follows :

Your breastfeeding sessions may reduce the risk of breast cancer as lactation subdue the quantity of estrogen that your body produces.
Breastfeeding may also reduce the risk of other cancers like ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer and thyroid cancer.
Breastfeeding may help you recover faster during postpartum care due to the release of oxytocin hormone by your body.
Oxytocin hormone which help you in relaxing after childbirth may lower the risk of postpartum depression.
Breastfeeding sessions include lot of calories burning, so another advantage of nursing is that it may help in reducing the weight gained during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding advantages also involves the minimizing the risk of diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, type-2 diabetes, high blood pressure etc.
It is also observed that breastfeeding mothers may experience less vaginal bleeding and helps the uterus to return to its earlier size.
Another benefit of breastfeeding is that it may ensure that there is some gap between the pregnancies by pausing the mensuration cycles.
You may also have better sleep cycles in comparison to those mothers who do not breastfeed. Side-lying breastfeeding position among other common breastfeeding positions may help you in achieving that.
And among the many breastfeeding advantages, one of them is that, it forms a stronger emotional and physical bond between you and your baby.

Another important thing to note here is that a healthy postpartum diet also plays a role in improving the supply of your milk. The nutrients you receive from such a diet will help you in attain the essential nutrients for healthy breastfeeding sessions. You can check Equisential’s Postpartum Care Laddu which are made of natural ingredients by keeping in mind the nutrients required from the food after delivery for Indian mothers.

In the end :

The advantages of breastfeeding do not stop here, there are many more advantages beyond our blog that we may not have covered.

It is always your choice whether you want to breastfeed or not but it is not easy to overlook the breastfeeding advantages. If you are unable to breastfeed fully even then it is okay as there are many formulas available in the market that helps your baby grow but they are nothing in comparison the natural nutrients dense breast milk of yours for your baby.