There are many benefits to breastfeeding but to save time I'll talk about my five favorite benefits of breastfeeding.
1. Healthier For You and Your Baby
Breastfeeding is healthier for you and your baby for many reasons. Breastfeed babies tend to have lower risks of developing allergies, obesity, diabetes, ear infections, stomach viruses and so on. Breastfeed babies also lowers your child's risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). According to Baby Center breastfeeding at the age of 1 month can cut your child's risk of dying from SIDS in half! Studies have also shown that children who were breastfeed have higher IQ scores.
Breastfeeding is also healthy for you! The American Cancer Society claims that for every 12 months you breastfeed your risk of breast cancer decreases by 4.3%. Breastfeeding is also great for helping reduce stress and postpartum depression. This is because oxytocin is produced when breastfeeding. Oxytocin is a hormone that relaxes mothers and gives that nurturing feeling.
2. Saves Money
Formula is expensive and you use a lot of it!! The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor calculates that formula costs for one year are about $1,200 not including bottles, sterilizers, and whatever else you may need to formula feed your baby. Breastfeeding is significantly cheaper. All you may need are a couple of nursing bras and shirts, some nipple cream, and pads. If you are going back to work you may also need a pump, so you may spend anywhere from $100-$500 on breastfeeding, saving you at least $600. I have both the double electric pump and the hand held manual pump I got for $40. I actually prefer the $40 pump over the $200 pump. I never use my electric pump, I also never need pads, nipple cream, or nursing shirts. Everyone is different with the amount they spend, but regardless of whether you buy the most expensive or the cheapest products, you will save money by breastfeeding.
3. More Convenient
Breastfeeding can be viewed as more convenient. If you're the father of the child then you get to sleep through the night!! If you're the mother then sorry but you still have to get up whenever baby does. The plus side comes to the prep work. To formula feed you have to get up, get a clean bottle, feel it with sterilized water, then the formula, then mix. To breastfeed you pick up the baby and attach! Simple as that. When my baby got a little older, on restless nights I would actually have her sleep with me so she could eat when she wanted to so I wouldn't have to get up. I would only do this if you're a light sleeper. My significant other is not a light sleeper so I only do it when he is not in the bed to prevent suffocation. Another way breastfeeding is convenient is that you don't have to pack anything in your diaper bag for feedings. The only thing I carry with me for breastfeeding is a nursing cover for public feedings.
4. Mommy-Baby Bonding Time
Breastfeeding is something only mommy and baby get to do. It is our own little cuddle feeding time. I love being able to cuddle with my baby while feeding her. It is something special that no one else gets to share with her. It's hard to explain unless you do it, but its a magical thing being able to bond with your baby in that way. Also the skin to skin contact involved in the bonding time help promote the baby's intelligence. Studies have shown that orphaned infants with no skin to skin contact have less brain development than infants with constant skin to skin contact. Studies also show that premature babies who get baby massages (skin to skin contact) end up gaining weight faster and eventually get to leave the hospital faster. You can achieve this by breastfeeding too, not just the baby massages.
5. Helps You Loose Those Pregnancy Pounds
I will admit I gained more than my fair share of pregnancy pounds. Before the pregnancy I was an ity bity thing, during the pregnancy I felt like Godzilla wobbling around a tiny town of people. I ended up gaining 50 pounds during my pregnancy...I know, I know its a lot! My nurses kept insisting I was gaining the amount I needed since I started off as underweight. What they didn't tell me was that I was unhealthily gaining all that weight! Well after having the baby I lost 20 pounds. Now at four months in, I have lost all but ten pounds. I lost 40 pounds doing nothing but breastfeeding and an occasional walk around the block. Some women claim to lose even more than they gained from their pregnancy while breastfeeding. If that's not a good reason to try breastfeeding I don't know what is.
1. Healthier For You and Your Baby
Breastfeeding is healthier for you and your baby for many reasons. Breastfeed babies tend to have lower risks of developing allergies, obesity, diabetes, ear infections, stomach viruses and so on. Breastfeed babies also lowers your child's risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). According to Baby Center breastfeeding at the age of 1 month can cut your child's risk of dying from SIDS in half! Studies have also shown that children who were breastfeed have higher IQ scores.
Breastfeeding is also healthy for you! The American Cancer Society claims that for every 12 months you breastfeed your risk of breast cancer decreases by 4.3%. Breastfeeding is also great for helping reduce stress and postpartum depression. This is because oxytocin is produced when breastfeeding. Oxytocin is a hormone that relaxes mothers and gives that nurturing feeling.
2. Saves Money
Formula is expensive and you use a lot of it!! The Breastfeeding Center of Ann Arbor calculates that formula costs for one year are about $1,200 not including bottles, sterilizers, and whatever else you may need to formula feed your baby. Breastfeeding is significantly cheaper. All you may need are a couple of nursing bras and shirts, some nipple cream, and pads. If you are going back to work you may also need a pump, so you may spend anywhere from $100-$500 on breastfeeding, saving you at least $600. I have both the double electric pump and the hand held manual pump I got for $40. I actually prefer the $40 pump over the $200 pump. I never use my electric pump, I also never need pads, nipple cream, or nursing shirts. Everyone is different with the amount they spend, but regardless of whether you buy the most expensive or the cheapest products, you will save money by breastfeeding.
3. More Convenient
Breastfeeding can be viewed as more convenient. If you're the father of the child then you get to sleep through the night!! If you're the mother then sorry but you still have to get up whenever baby does. The plus side comes to the prep work. To formula feed you have to get up, get a clean bottle, feel it with sterilized water, then the formula, then mix. To breastfeed you pick up the baby and attach! Simple as that. When my baby got a little older, on restless nights I would actually have her sleep with me so she could eat when she wanted to so I wouldn't have to get up. I would only do this if you're a light sleeper. My significant other is not a light sleeper so I only do it when he is not in the bed to prevent suffocation. Another way breastfeeding is convenient is that you don't have to pack anything in your diaper bag for feedings. The only thing I carry with me for breastfeeding is a nursing cover for public feedings.
4. Mommy-Baby Bonding Time
Breastfeeding is something only mommy and baby get to do. It is our own little cuddle feeding time. I love being able to cuddle with my baby while feeding her. It is something special that no one else gets to share with her. It's hard to explain unless you do it, but its a magical thing being able to bond with your baby in that way. Also the skin to skin contact involved in the bonding time help promote the baby's intelligence. Studies have shown that orphaned infants with no skin to skin contact have less brain development than infants with constant skin to skin contact. Studies also show that premature babies who get baby massages (skin to skin contact) end up gaining weight faster and eventually get to leave the hospital faster. You can achieve this by breastfeeding too, not just the baby massages.
5. Helps You Loose Those Pregnancy Pounds
I will admit I gained more than my fair share of pregnancy pounds. Before the pregnancy I was an ity bity thing, during the pregnancy I felt like Godzilla wobbling around a tiny town of people. I ended up gaining 50 pounds during my pregnancy...I know, I know its a lot! My nurses kept insisting I was gaining the amount I needed since I started off as underweight. What they didn't tell me was that I was unhealthily gaining all that weight! Well after having the baby I lost 20 pounds. Now at four months in, I have lost all but ten pounds. I lost 40 pounds doing nothing but breastfeeding and an occasional walk around the block. Some women claim to lose even more than they gained from their pregnancy while breastfeeding. If that's not a good reason to try breastfeeding I don't know what is.