1. Breastfeeding your baby benefits in preventing excessive blood loss that can occur in the post-partum period (6 weeks from the day of delivery).
2. Breastfeeding your baby helps you to burn calories (as much as 400-600 calories in a day) making it easier for the mothers to return to their pre-pregnancy weight soon. Moreover, it is a safe and natural way to lose weight acquired during your pregnancy.
3. Breastfeeding offers the mother and the baby an opportunity to create a bonding between them. This helps the baby as well as the mother by those hormones in mother’s body that help in lifting her mood. The mother feels relaxed upon breastfeeding her baby for the same reason.
4. Breastfeeding promotes rapid reduction in the excessive fat accumulated in the mother’s body, and helps in rapid reduction in the belly size due to faster involution of uterus with breastfeeding.
5. Clinical studies and researchers have shown that breastfeeding reduces the risk of development of breast cancer and ovarian cancer in the mother. Recent studies show that prolonged breastfeeding also reduces the risk of developing uterine cancer.
6. Breast milk offers a free and nutrient-rich source of nutrition to the baby as compared to expensive and less healthy formula feedings or artificial milk.
7. Breastfeeding your baby is a natural way to avoid further pregnancies as during the period of breastfeeding certain hormones are released that help in postponing the menstrual periods for the duration of lactation and breastfeeding. This is known as ‘lactational amenorrhea’ (no periods during breastfeeding), and serves as an effective natural contraceptive method.
8. A new study (done in April,2009) shows that mothers who breastfeed their babies for more than 12 months in their lifespan have lesser chances of developing heart-related problems in their old age, such as heart attacks, strokes, high blood pressure, and other heart diseases.
9. Breastfeeding your baby helps to increase glucose tolerance and metabolism of cholesterol further benefiting you in the long run by avoiding the development of type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes (diabetes developing during pregnancy), and problems related to high cholesterol in our body.
10. Breastfeeding also helps the mothers fight osteoporosis with age.
Breastfeeding is a safe, time-proven feeding method that helps infants to have a healthful start in life. So unless there are contraindications that warrant a woman to not begin or to interrupt or stop breastfeeding, she should breastfeed her child to benefit the baby as well as herself.
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i have two kids, one was breastfed until 4 the other until 1. the one that is 4 is healthy and gets mild colds at worst the other not so lucky.