Why You Should Breast-Feed Your Baby

As soon as new mothers find out that they are pregnant, they decide that they want the best for their baby. This is a normal reaction and all part of human nature.

New mothers have a lot of decisions to make and one of the most important decisions is whether or not they should breast-feed their baby. Some mums are a little bit scared of breast-feeding because they don't really know how it works and they don't know if it will hurt them or not.

Now, some mums will experience irritation when they breast-feed and when their baby begins to grow some teeth, it might be better if they switched to bottle feeding so that they don't get bitten.

However, there are mums out there that breast-feed their children despite the negatives. Irritation and biting is something that can be solved. The benefits of breast-feeding a child far outweigh the negative.

If you are in the position where you are trying to make the decision whether or not you want to breast-feed your child, read on for more information on why you should.

Nutritional - Breast milk is extremely nutritional for a baby. Yes, formula and cows milk do contain nutrients as well, but breast milk is far superior in comparison. What happens when you breast feed your baby, is you are providing them with all the nutrients they need, from your body. This includes fatty acids, amino acids, lactose and (the most important) antibodies. Within the health community it is known that breast fed babies are less susceptible to illness when they are a baby and when they grow up. This is due to the natural anti-bodies passed on from their mothers.

Cheaper - This might not be one of the most important reasons but it is a benefit for you. Breast-feeding is a lot cheaper than using formula. If you bottle-feed your baby using formula, then you need to have some money set aside to pay for the formula. Babies need a lot of food, so you might go through many boxes of formula per week alone. What you should do, is breast-feed your baby and put the money that you would have spent on formula, in a trust fund for them.

Safe - When you feed your baby with formula, you have to make sure that everything is sterile beforehand; otherwise the baby will get sick. However, with breast-milk, it is naturally sterile. Furthermore, some formulas have been recalled because they have been deemed unsafe for human consumption. You won't have that risk with your breast-milk. You just have to make sure that you keep your breasts clean and keep your intake of caffeine to a minimum. It might be better to stay away from alcohol as well.

Temperature - One of the things that new mums stress about, is getting the milk to the right temperature, when they are bottle-feeding. Too cold and the baby might get sick, and too hot could burn the baby. Breast-milk comes out the right temperature, so you don't have to worry about the temperature of the milk if you breast-feed.

Allergies - When babies are bottle fed using formula, they can become allergic to the milk, so you have to watch out for them crying or being sick after you have fed them. Breast-milk does not cause allergic reactions. The worse thing that can happen to breast-fed babies is that they can get gas from something that you have had for your tea. Just burp them and stop eating that food.