Benefits of Breastfeeding

Babies are born to breastfeed. Your milk is made perfectly for your baby and changes as she grows. Your milk has antibodies, anti-allergens, and anti-virus properties that help keep your baby from getting sick. These ingredients are not found in formula.

BENEFITS FOR BABY

Breast milk has everything your baby needs. Here’s how it helps get your child off to a great start. Babies who are breastfed are less likely to develop: 

  • Ear infections 
  • Respiratory infections 
  • Stomach illnesses 
  • Childhood leukemia 
  • Diabetes 
  • Skin conditions 

Breastfed babies are also less likely to die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). 

Breastfeeding contributes to your baby’s intellectual, mental, and social development.

Human milk has over 200 nutrients in the perfect combination of fats, sugar, and protein to help babies grow healthy and strong. Human milk contains: 

  • Vitamins and minerals 
  • Growth factors that help babies grow and develop 
  • Proteins that are easy for baby to digest 
  • Enzymes that aid digestion 
  • Antibodies that fight disease and infection 
  • Probiotics which are microorganisms that help improve immune response 

Although vitamins and nutrients are added to infant formulas to make them more suitable for human babies, no infant formula can match the ingredients in human milk.

See how breastmilk has more of what your baby needs.

BENEFITS FOR MOM

Breastfeeding helps you, too. Here’s how nursing your baby can affect your health and wellness. Mothers who breastfeed have a decreased risk of: 

  • Breast cancer 
  • Ovarian cancer 
  • Uterine cancer 
  • Endometrial cancer 
  • Type 2 diabetes 
  • Cardiovascular disease 
  • Rheumatoid arthritis 
  • Depression 

Breastfeeding protects against osteoporosis, and can help moms lose weight easier. 

Breastfeeding moms also recover from childbirth faster, save money by not buying formula, get more sleep, and miss less work because their babies are sick less often.

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