Breastfeeding - Breastmilk: The Best Food For a Baby

Breastmilk is the best food for a baby. Every mammalian mother makes a milk uniquely suited to the needs of her offspring. Human milk is ideal for human babies. It contains just the right kinds and proportions of proteins, fats, and sugars. More than a hundred substances in breastmilk have been identified, including many that cannot be duplicated in infant formulas. Specific benefits of some of those substances have been identified (some, for example, are thought to promote brain development). Others might have benefits that we do not yet know about.
    The formula manufacturer has no hope of duplicating the nutritional value of breastmilk. Many formula ads claim that their product is the closest to breastmilk. However, breastmilk does not have a constant composition. It varies by the age of the child. If you have a premature baby, your breasts make a special milk that's best for a premature baby. When your baby is first born, your breasts produce colostrum, a special milk that has several special benefits for a newborn. As your child gets older, the composition of your breastmilk changes.
    The composition of breastmilk changes even during a single feed. In the beginning of a breastfeed, your child gets foremilk, which is high in liquids and low in calories (good for quenching thirst). This is followed by the much thicker, richer hindmilk (good for nutrition). By switching breasts at the right time, your child can control the amount of liquid and calories she or he gets. A bottle-fed child cannot do this!
    Finally, remember: even when your child grows older and is eating plenty of other foods, breastmilk continues to be an excellent food (and preventive medicine). You can continue breastfeeding as long as you and your child both want it; you will both derive great physiological and psychological benefits from it.

See also:

• Immune benefits for the baby
• Benefits for the mother

• benefits of breastfeeding for the baby
• why to breastfeed

Back to the breastfeeding main page

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