Breastfeeding: Benefits Of This Milk And The Characteristics Of This Natural Food

Breastfeeding provides babies with all the nutrients they need to grow and their immune system to fully develop, UNICEF says on its website.

Breastfeeding Week is celebrated from August 1 to 7. This year, the motto is: Let’s promote breastfeeding by supporting and educating. This is a global campaign coordinated by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) to raise awareness and stimulate action on issues related to breastfeeding, says the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

World Breastfeeding Week was officially proclaimed by the World Health Organization and UNICEF in 1992 to protect, promote, and support breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding should be done exclusively for the first six months of life (without giving anything else, not even water) and continue for two years or more. Human milk continues to be of high nutritional value and provides essential elements for the optimal development of the child for as long as the mother and baby wish to continue. Human mammals are weaned between 3 and 7 years according to anthropological studies, explains Dr. Maritza de Villatoro, Pediatrician, Master in Family Medicine and specialist in Breastfeeding.

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Breastfeeding is always suggested, except in very rare cases of congenital conditions such as galactosemia, a serious disease. All children have the right to access this invaluable resource, says Dr. Villatoro. She even clarifies that if the mother becomes infected with COVID-19, she can breastfeed without any risk.

Benefits of breastfeeding for babies

The benefits of breastfeeding are of many kinds. On the Unicef website, the benefits for babies are explained:

Provides all the necessary nutrients and hydration.
Prevents gastrointestinal and respiratory infections, obesity, diabetes, leukemia, allergies, childhood cancer, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
Prevents covid-19 infection.
Children have a lower risk of mortality in the first year than those who do not receive it.
It is associated with long-term cognitive development and IQ.

Benefits for mothers

In the short term, it helps your physical recovery, for example, it decreases the risk of hemorrhage after birth and reduces the risk of postpartum depression.
In the long term, it helps reduce the chances of developing ovarian cancer, breast cancer, type II diabetes, hypertension, heart attacks, anemia, and osteoporosis.

On a psychological level, it helps establish a bond between mother and child. A longer period of breastfeeding is also associated with greater maternal responsiveness and the emotional security that the bond provides, explains PAHO.

At the same time, breastfeeding contributes to the development of countries because it helps reduce the costs of treating diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and hypertension, among others, says UNICEF.

It’s a saving

MedlinePlus indicates the economic benefits of breastfeeding:

It allows you to save around US$1000 (about Q7,800) per year when you do not buy milk.
Avoid cleaning baby bottles.

At the same time, breast milk is a natural and renewable food that does not require packaging, transportation, or fuel to prepare. For every million babies fed with infant formula, 150 million containers are used, many of which end up in landfills, says PAHO on its website.