Not everyone can or wants to breastfeed, but for those of you who want to, this article goes into a bit more depth about the benefits of breastfeeding – both for you and your baby.

Breast milk, together with vitamin D, contains all the nutritional content an infant needs in the first six months. The WHO recommends full breastfeeding during a child’s first six months and partial breastfeeding for up to two years – or as long as mother and child want. In addition to nutrition, the newborn baby receives the physical closeness, warmth, body contact and security it needs.

There are many benefits of breastfeeding for both the baby and mother, including:

• Optimum nutritional content for your baby
• Environmentally friendly
• Always heated to the right temperature
• Free
• Reduces the risk of sudden infant death syndrome
• Reduces the risk of your child contracting certain infectious and inflammatory conditions.
• May reduce the risk of the child developing obesity later in life
• Reduces the risk of those who have breastfed developing breast and ovarian cancer as well as type II diabetes later in life

Remember that breastfeeding is individual and if it isn’t working as you had imagined, breast milk formula is a fantastic alternative.