BREASTFEEDING, A MUST FOR YOUR CHILD!!!
Breastfeeding is the feeding of babies with milk from a woman's breast. This takes place immediately after delivery. The primary benefit of breast milk is nutritional. Breast milk contains just the right amount of lactose; water; essential fatty acids; and amino acids for brain development, growth, and digestion. No babies are allergic to their mother’s milk, although they may have reactions to something their mother eats.
Human milk contains at least 100 ingredients not found in the formula. Sucking at the breast promotes good jaw development because it is harder work to get milk out of a breast than a bottle, and the exercise strengthens the jaws and encourages the growth of straight, healthy teeth.
Breastfeeding facilitates bonding between mother and child. The skin-to-skin contact helps a baby feel safe, secure and loved. Pediatricians encourage mothers of premature babies to hold their babies on their chests—skin to skin. This is called “kangaroo care,” which has been shown to soothe and calm a baby and help maintain the baby’s temperature. Fathers too can participate in kangaroo care by placing their infants against their bare chests.
Also, breastfeeding helps in losing the pounds gained during pregnancy and stimulating the uterus to contract to its original size.
Globally, about 820,000 under-5 children die every year due to no/inadequate breastfeeding, and about 38% of infants are only breastfed during their first six months of life. This calls for attention!
Health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), recommend feeding for six months (around 26 weeks), only through breastfeeding (Exclusive Breastfeeding). This means that no other foods or drinks should be given. After the introduction of foods at six months of age, continued breastfeeding until at least two years of age is then recommended. Why is this necessary?
Breastfeeding adequately has several benefits that cannot be derived easily when missed. Some of them are;
- Growth: The average breastfed baby doubles its birth weight in 5 to 6 months. By one year, a typical breastfed baby weighs about 2½ times its birth weight.
- Maternal bond: Hormones released during breastfeeding help to strengthen the maternal bond (mother to child).
- Infections: Breast milk contains several anti-infective factors such as bile salt stimulated lipase (protecting against amoebic infections) and lactoferrin (which binds to iron and inhibits the growth of intestinal bacteria). During breastfeeding, approximately 0.25–0.5 grams per day of secretory IgA antibodies pass to the baby via milk. This is one of the important features of colostrum.
Colostrum is the thin fluid produced by breastfeeding mothers. It is produced in abundance during the very first few milking, and with each milking, less is produced. This special milk is yellow-orange in color, thick and sticky. It is low in fat, and high in carbohydrates, protein, and antibodies to help keep infants healthy.
Colostrum contains a rich array of nutrients, including growth factors, lipidic and glycemic factors, oligosaccharides, antimicrobials, cytokines, and nucleosides. This substance introduces the newborn to over 95 different compounds that balance and stabilize the immune system. It also brings in eight growth factors that promote normal cell growth, DNA synthesis, fat utilization, and increased mental acuity.
Some traditional/local customs and beliefs have it that colostrum should be thrown away and that it is the dirty part of breast milk. This belief is FALSE! Colostrum provides not only perfect nutrition tailored to the needs of your newborn but also large amounts of living cells which will defend your baby against many harmful agents. The concentration of immune factors is much higher in colostrum than in mature milk (The colostrum gradually changes to mature milk during the first two weeks after birth.).
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