Benefits of Breastfeeding
In today’s highly competitive environment, many mothers do
not want to sacrifice their careers and choose the option of
bottle-feeding their babies. Whatever the reason new mothers
give for bottle-feeding their babies, one thing is a fact that
motherhood is said to be incomplete without breastfeeding. It
is well known fact that doctors normally suggest that babies
should only be breastfeed in their first six months. However,
people still harbor doubts about the benefits of breastfeeding
and in case you too have some then read on as we discuss the
subject in detail.
Choice Between Breastfeeding &
Bottle-feeding
After many researches, the American Academy of Pediatrics
(AAP) brought forward the fact that newborn babies should be
breastfed for the first six months. Only after the first six
months, mothers should start feeding them with other options
like formula feeds and bottle feeds.
Advantages Of Breastfeeding
There are many reasons that doctors and old ladies recommend
breastfeeding for a newborn. Here is a list of advantages of
breastfeeding a baby:
* Mother’s milk is full of vitamins, minerals, lactose,
proteins and fats that is not present in that quantity in any
other substitute.
* Mother’s milk is easily digested by the newborn than any
other substitute.
* Mother’s milk contains antibodies that protect the infants
from a number of infectious diseases like diarrhea.
* Babies fed on mother’s breast milk are less prone to high
cholesterol, diabetes, allergies and asthma.
* Breastfeeding is a great way of burning calories and
pregnancy weight for mothers.
* Breastfeeding needs no preparation and can never go out of
supply and is free of cost.
Limitations Of Breastfeeding
After having a look at the advantages of breastfeeding, now
have a look at some of the limitations of breastfeeding.
* The first limitation of breastfeeding is that often the
mother starts feeling toed down by the baby’s constant demand
of feed.
* Many mothers start feeling tired after breastfeeding their
baby for 2 to 3 hours in the first few months.
* Some mothers can’t give up their career and need to go out
for work and this proves to be the greatest limitation of
breastfeeding, as they can’t opt for breastfeeding their baby
in this case.
* With breastfeeding only a mother can feed the baby, while
with formula or bottle-feeding, any family member can feed the
baby.
Symptoms Of A Hungry Baby
Now that you are aware why breastfeeding is so crucial for
your baby, you should also try to learn when you baby needs to
feed. Many new mothers worry about whether their baby is
getting enough to eat or not. At times mothers have been noted
to try feeding their baby about 12 times a day but this
decreases with time and mothers feed when the baby demands.
Following are the symptoms that show that your baby is
hungry:
* When the baby moves his head from side to side.
* When the baby puckers his lips as if sucking
* When the baby keeps opening his mouth.
* When the baby place his hands and fists in his mouth.
* When the baby sticks out his tongue.
* When the baby nuzzles against his mother’s breast.
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