Breast Feeding

Breast Feeding

Breast feeding is a great way to ensure that your baby grows up healthy and strong. Breast milk contains the exact balance of nutrients, including vitamins, minerals, and protection against sickness and disease. Breast feeding may even help to make mom healthier. Certain types of cancer seem to occur less frequently in mothers who have breastfed. Healthy women should be breast feeding their newborns for at least the first six months of their lives.

If you’ve tried breast feeding and have decided that it is simply too painful, it is also possible to feed a baby breast milk through a bottle. It is widely acknowledged that there is no substitute for the superior combination of nutritious elements found in mother’s milk. Commercially available infant formulas are considered inferior sources of nutrition for both pre-term and full term infants.

When to Avoid Breast Feeding

If the mother has serious health concerns, such as active tuberculosis or HIV, she should not engage in breast feeding. It is possible to infect the baby through breast milk and therefore breast feeding should be avoided at all costs. Mothers who must take prescription medications for pre-existing health conditions, or who abuse illegal drugs or consume alcoholic beverages should not breast feed. These potentially harmful substances can be transmitted to infants through breast feeding and cause addiction in the infant or physical damage to developing systems and organs.

If you are unsure whether or not breast feeding is right for you, it is always best to consult with your health care provider before your baby is born. Also keep in mind that, while it is possible to stop breast feeding at any time after your baby is born, it is next to impossible to begin breast feeding again after the flow of milk has been stopped.

5/29/2007 11:30:28 AM