Benefits of breast milk

Breast-feeding is a natural way to nourish your baby. Breast milk provides your baby with unique nutritional and health benefits, such as:

• Antibodies to strengthen the immune system.
• A reduced risk for eczema.²
• A reduced risk for asthma.³
• Fewer gastrointestinal illnesses (vomiting and diarrhea).
• A possible lower risk of food allergies.
• A reduced risk for becoming obese later in infancy and during childhood.^{9, 10, 11}
• A reduced risk for developing diabetes.⁴
• A reduced risk for high cholesterol later in life.¹²
• A possible reduced risk for high blood pressure later in life.^{6, 5}
• Fewer doctor visits and less chance of needing hospitalization because of infection.¹³

To compare, baby formula does not help protect a baby from infections and other health problems.

Feeding your baby milk at the breast offers the added convenience of having a ready food source at all times that does not require special preparation.

How breast-feeding affects the mother

Soon after your baby is born, breast-feeding helps your body recover from the stresses of pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Breast-feeding also lowers your risk for developing breast cancer.⁷ The longer you breast-feed, the more this risk is reduced.⁷ It may also lower your risk for getting diabetes later on.⁸

Your body produces the hormone prolactin, which prepares your body for breast-feeding during pregnancy. After your baby is born and the placenta is delivered, prolactin immediately stimulates milk production. The amount of prolactin you produce depends on how often you breast-feed: the more often you breast-feed, the more prolactin your body generates, and the more milk your breasts make. This is why it's so important to breast-feed every 1 to 3 hours in the first days after the birth.

Breast-feeding also stimulates your body to release oxytocin, which helps your uterus contract, bleed less, and return more quickly to its prepregnancy size. You may feel these contractions occur in the first few hours after birth, which are known as afterpains. The contractions may be slightly uncomfortable and last for a day or two.

Oxytocin also stimulates the let-down reflex, which occurs just before or soon after feeding or pumping begins. Let-down is often described as a tingle or an ache. If this is your first baby, you may not notice this sensation for the first few weeks.

Your body's hormones stabilize when your baby is about 3 months of age. At this time, you begin to lose the full feeling in your breasts between feedings. Your milk supply should remain the same even with this change.

The breasts first produce colostrum, followed by transitional milk after a few days. Mature breast milk usually is produced about 10 to 15 days after delivery. This milk contains about 50% fat calories, 45% carbohydrate calories, and 5% protein calories. Most of the carbohydrate is milk sugar (lactose), which helps babies absorb calcium.