11 (incredible) Benefits of Breastfeeding You Might Not Know (Some of them still amaze me!)

This week is World Breastfeeding Week - a week dedicated to the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding worldwide.  The theme this year is Sustaining Breastfeeding Together.

To me, that means that it takes some effort and support to continue the breastfeeding relationship past those first few weeks of life. Because, about 80% of new moms start out breastfeeding. But, the percentages drop over time.  The American Academy of Pediatrics and the World Health Organization recommend that babies receive breastmilk exclusively until they are 6 months of age  - that means no other form of nutrition such as water, baby foods or artificial baby milk. Then after 6 months, foods should be introduced and breast milk continued until one year of age or  longer. 

The numbers of mother's who provide breastmilk to their babies are rising in the US. At last report, almost 50% of mothers were still breastfeeding at 6 months. And that number drops to about 30% at one year. 

To get off to a good start, we know that hospitals have to protect that mommy-baby relationship right from those first few minutes of life. Delaying those shots, exams, and procedures when possible and just letting mom and baby get to know each other is crucial in helping to initiate breastfeeding. That has helped to increase the numbers of mothers choosing breastfeeding from the beginning. 

But, there still is a long way to go in sustaining that breastfeeding relationship. 

Sometimes we have to promote the whole reason for breastfeeding - to the public, or a family member or to an employer.

 As a Nurse Practitioner, and a Baby Coach, I know that most mothers need more support than they are getting. It often takes a whole lot of support for some moms to get started - and although there is support available, I know moms could use more. 

But clearly more support is needed for mothers who want to sustain that breastfeeding relationship even more. That is one of the reasons that I started the Dream Baby Cafe and the Private Facebook Community . I wanted to be able to support mothers with more education and guidance as well as give you all a place to connect with moms just like you. A place so you can encourage each other on this same journey of caring for your  little ones. 

Today, we are going to focus on promoting the breastfeeding relationship. Because if there is awareness of the benefits of breastmilk to begin with, and support comes from that education, then mothers may be able to start and continue breastfeeding longer.

 If your spouse and family understand how valuable breastfeeding is, they may become more supportive of you, instead of the critics some moms face.  

If your employer understands the benefit to his bottom line, then he will be more willing to support your efforts in continuing to breastfeed when you return to work. 

If you have more understanding of how the length of breastfeeding impacts your health and that of your baby, it makes it easier to continue despite obstacles that might come in your way. 

And with information, you can make your own decisions about breastfeeding your baby, or the length of time you choose to feed, or maybe even how you will feed a baby in the future.

So, let's check out these 11 (incredible) Benefits of Breastfeeding You Might Not Know

 Hopefully when you have read these you will see the benefits in a whole new light (# 5 and # 11 may really surprise you)

 
1. Breast Milk Decreases Infections In Babies

Now this is probably the reason a lot of parents choose breast milk for their infants in the first place. And probably the one most of you are familiar with. Babies who breastfeed are generally healthier than their non-breastfed playmates.

They have 50% fewer ear infections, 64% fewer episodes of gastrointestinal infections - like "stomach viruses" (nausea/vomiting/diarrhea), fewer cases of bacterial meningitis,  72% less hospitalizations for pneumonias and other respiratory infections.  

And those stats are all for normal, healthy full term newborns. Babies who are premature have so many added benefits from receiving breastmilk - that could be an entire article unto itself. There is no doubt that babies who receive breastmilk in the NICU do better. 

All of that adds up to a much healthier baby. And all of that is due to the protective nature of the breast milk composition and how it provides protection in the baby’s body and particularly gut. 

2.   Breast milk Gives Children Life Long Protection From Diseases 

Now you may have heard the information about infections before. But what about the long term health benefits that breastfeeding has for babies and children? The benefits don’t stop when you stop breastfeeding the baby. No, indeed. The children continue to have benefits throughout their lives.

We are only just scratching the surface on what we know, but here are some findings that make me glad my children received breastmilk.

Asthma/Eczema/Allergy
Breastmilk protects children from  developing asthma by about 30%. And the longer children are breastfed, the more protection they get. It also helps to decrease the development of allergies. They also develop 42% less atopic dermatitis (or some people may know this as eczema ) than children who were not breastfed.

All three of those illnesses tend to run in families. So if you have a family history of those, you may want to highly consider the benefits of breastfeeding for your children when thinking about a feeding choice or how long to breastfeed. 

Obesity
Have you heard that there is a decrease in obesity among children who were breastfed? True. The risk decreases by about 20% . Now, we know that this obesity has become a public health crisis in this country.  I saw a huge rise in obesity in children my last few years of practice, so I know the magnitude of this problem in our culture today.

And you know that with obesity, comes a whole host of other health problems - diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, heart disease - so if you decrease the obesity, you are in turn decreasing other diseases too.

The thinking is that breastfed babies regulate the amount of milk that they take in on their own when they feed. They learn that when they are full, they stop eating. They learn to recognize satiety cues. So, they are learning to self regulate at an early age.

Babies who drink breast milk are also able to taste flavors of food in their breast milk. It has been shown that breastfed babies prefer the flavors of their own cultures. So when they are introduced to foods, they are already exposed to a variety of foods and flavors. They tend to not be as picky of eaters.

Breast milk has a different effect on regulating metabolism and particularly, insulin that cannot be reproduced in artificial baby milk.

All of this leads up to a reduction in some of the biggest health problems plaguing our nation today.

Leukemia
Childhood cancers are rare in children but are on the rise. Childhood Leukemia is the most common of the cancers and makes up 30% of all of the cases of cancer in children.

But, there is a decrease in the rate of childhood leukemia if you breastfeed your baby for any length of time. And if the baby was breastfed longer than 6 months, there is a 20% decrease in leukemia.  There are a few other cancers, such as lymphoma that have some protection with breastfeeding as well.

3. Breastfeeding Prevents  SIDS

If you read my eBook on Safe to Sleep: A Restful Guide for Worried Parents (if you didn’t, check it out on the Dream Baby Cafe website ) you know that SIDS is not just one single thing that happens to a baby but most likely a cascade  of events that causes the death of a baby before the first birthday. But, the protective benefit of breastfeeding is so strong that it has been made one of the recommendations for prevention of SIDS.  

Statistics vary, but the most conservative estimates say that babies who are breastfed ANY amount for ANY length, have a 50 % decrease in the risk of  SIDS. And the risk decreases the longer and more breastmilk that the baby receives. The greatest protection is seen in babies who are exclusively breastfed for 6 months. That means that they receive no formula or other supplements in that time.

Why is this protection against SIDS so strong with breastfeeding? As I said earlier, it is usually a combination of events that occurs.

It is most likely a combination of at least these 3 things : breastfeeding's ability to protect the baby from infection; the breastfed baby's ability to arouse more easily from sleep, and the breastfed baby's better suck, swallow, and breathe coordination during feeding which may help them to keep their airway open better during sleep.  

(If you want to learn more ways to protect your baby from SIDS, check out my  eBOOK  Safe to Sleep: A Restful Guide for Worried Parents at the link above)

4. Breastfeeding Improves Bonding

The whole process of breastfeeding is amazing. When babies suckle at the breast, that sends a signal to the brain to release oxytocin. Oxytocin is a hormone.  The oxytocin then signals the breast to let down the milk. The milk letdown signals the baby to feed and empty the breast. The empty breast signals the body to make more milk. It’s supply and demand. All triggered by the baby’s suckling.

When the oxytocin is released, mom feels a surge of love and affection for the baby. It is nature’s way of assuring that the baby is loved and cared for. Oxytocin is the love hormone. It is the same hormone you feel with your first crush. It is what makes you look at the crinkle faced, poopy diapered, scrawny little being you birthed with the squished head and the puffy eyes and say "You are the most beautiful baby I have ever seen!". It is what gets you out of bed ten minutes after you fell asleep and feel that rush of love and emotion when you look at that crying face. 

Every time you feed you get that wash of maternal hormone that helps you bond with your baby.

Oxytocin is not the only thing responsible for bonding, for sure. Other maternal behaviors predict bonding as well.

But other behaviors in breastfeeding make it much more easy to form that attachment,  such as touch, like the skin to skin contact of breastfeeding. 

That close contact of nursing a baby helps him to be able to look into your eyes and make eye contact with you. That eye contact, plus the smell of you and your milk, all help to form his attachment to you as well.

That close physical proximity, the frequency of the feedings and the need to be attuned to the baby’s feeding, all help you to begin to read your baby’s subtle cues and recognize who he is and what is normal or not and what he needs from you. These all increase your connection to your baby. 

5. Breastfeeding Is Good For Mother’s Health

Now by this time, most people know of some of the health benefits of breastfeeding for baby and, in fact, most people breastfeed for this reason. But did you know that breastfeeding benefits YOUR health as well?

This is pretty amazing. 

Diabetes/Heart Disease/High Blood Pressure

There was a study that looked at 161.000 women in menopause and it showed that women who breastfed for a year were less likely to get diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease than women who never breastfed. Think about how remarkable that is. One year of breastfeeding gave these women protection for 20- 30 + years from serious diseases that are the cause of the majority of disease.

And are you aware of the cancer protection from breastfeeding?

Breast Cancer
We all know how common breast cancer is in women. Breast cancer is the 2nd  leading cause of death in women in the US.  MD Anderson Cancer Center reports that breastfeeding decreases a woman’s risk of both pre and post menopausal breast cancers. For every 12 months that you breastfeed, you decrease your risk by 4%.

Now check this out.  We have not talked about cumulative breastfeeding before now. That means the total time breastfeeding all of the children in your lifetime. For example, I breastfed all 4 of my boys for a full year each, so that adds up to 4 years of breastfeeding.

So MD Anderson reports that in the research studies that were done, mothers could count the length of breastfeeding time as all with one child or with a combination of months with all of the children that they had breastfed. The protective risk increased the longer they feed.

So, the longer you breastfeed each child and the more children you breastfeed, the lower your risk of breast cancer.

We also know that AA women have higher rates of aggressive breast cancers that are difficult to treat with poorer outcomes. A 14 year study showed that African American women who breastfed reduced their risk of developing highly aggressive breast cancers.

However, we also know that breastfeeding rates are lower in AA women. So we must provide more education  and more  support for initiation and sustaining breastfeeding especially for these moms.  

Now, I don't know about you, but, breast and ovarian cancers scare me. My mother was diagnosed with cancer this summer. I spent several hours in the hospital Friday night with a dear friend who just had a double mastectomy. I am sure you know people dear to you as well who are touched by these diseases. It is sad, and scary. But, these statistics give me hope.  

Why does breastfeeding protect your breasts? Estrogen is associated with cancers in women. When you are breastfeeding, you have fewer menstrual cycles and that means lower estrogen levels.

Secondly, when your breasts are actively making milk, it limits their ability to act abnormally, which is what cancer is.

Ovarian Cancer
You are also protected from ovarian cancers. Now, ovarian cancers are very difficult to detect due to their silent nature and they are often advanced at diagnosis. Breastfeeding decreases your risks dramatically with this disease. Protection occurs with ANY breastfeeding but there are  particularly favorable results with exclusive breastfeeding. And like with breast cancer, the longer you breastfeed the more protection you are receiving.

Statistically, the more children you breastfeed, the highest protection you receive. This is in large part due to suppressing your ovarian function and preventing ovulation. The less you ovulate, the less exposure you have to estrogen and the less exposure you have to cells that can become abnormal.

6. Breastfeeding Helps You Lose Your Baby-Weight

Now here is one that all moms love. The act of producing breastmilk burns 500 extra calories/day. So women who breastfeed tend to lose their baby weight more quickly than non-nursing mothers. The release of oxytocin (Are you loving oxytocin?) causes the uterus to shrink back to its normal pre-pregnancy size more quickly and stop the bleeding more quickly as well. Who is not happy about losing 500 calories a day? Now this is a boost, huh?

I say this with a caveat. Some women say the weight just falls off. Some women say that they hold on to those extra 5-10 lbs until they stop nursing and then they just disappear. I was in that camp. 

But -  if you aren’t taking good care of yourself, you may not lose any weight, or you may gain. If you aren’t eating and sleeping well, if you have a poor diet based on fast food, or unhealthy choices - or if you are still “eating for two”  - well, don’t expect to get the benefit of weight loss from breastfeeding.

But if you want to use the time of having a new baby to set the tone for good nutrition for your family’s future, make healthy choices that will fuel your body, and you will most likely be one of those whose breastfeeding has the added benefit of helping them get back into their pre-pregnancy jeans.  

7. Breastfeeding Helps Make Up For Loss Of Sleep 

Now, some will say this is crazy, because you are so tired BECAUSE you are breastfeeding. But, every new mom and dad have interrupted sleep for feedings. It is a fact.  But, it is another added benefit of the release of oxytocin that will help you catch up on a little extra sleep.

When you breastfeed, the release of oxytocin causes a calming effect that makes you feel very relaxed. You can be wide awake with a long list of things to do and even feel very stressed and sit down to nurse your baby and instantly your whole body can feel like you just had a massage. You might say, I thought it was just because I was so exhausted. But no. It is the hormone release.

Often times, you will fall asleep while feeding the baby. The nice thing is, those 10 and 20 minute cat naps help your body to get a little extra added sleep each day that you so badly need. 

Even if you don’t actually go to sleep, you are giving your body some much needed rejuvenation. And sometimes what you really needed was some stress relief and oxytocin is very good for that.

Just be very careful that you are always in a safe place when you are feeding. Because you may never mean to fall asleep, but if you do, your whole body relaxes and you can drop your baby (That actually happened to me once.) Or you can fall asleep on a sofa, chair or bed and suffocate your baby between you and the soft cushions or mattress or blanket.  

8. Breastfeeding Can Be Used As A Form Of  Birth Control

Breastfeeding is used as a natural birth control method in most countries and communities around the world. And when used correctly is about 98% effective. It is called the Lactation Amenorrhea Method (LAM). There are four principles that must be followed for this to prevent pregnancy. If this sounds like the method you are interested in, discuss it with your Women’s Health Specialist. Here is where you can get more information. 

• Baby is less than 6 mos.
• You are Exclusively Breastfeeding - you are not providing any supplements in place of breastfeedings -  no water, no artificial baby milk or supplements including baby food 
• Your menstrual cycle has not returned
• Baby is not sleeping longer than 4 hours in the day and 6 hours at night.

The continuous suckling at the breast keeps ovulation from occurring and the menses from returning.

If any of these conditions change, you need to use another method. For example,  if your cycle returns, it means you are now ovulating and this method no longer works. Keep in mind though, that you will ovulate before your first cycle and can get pregnant before a cycle ever occurs.

Make sure that you are paying attention to the baby's feeding habits and the baby isn't sleeping through the night and not just watching for your period to return. But, this is worth considering because hormonal birth control methods decrease milk supply. 

9. Breastfeeding Has Positive Financial Benefits

Breast milk is cost saving. It is free. You never have to run out to walmart in the middle of the night to get more. It is readily accessible. It saves you time in the middle of the night. No one has to get up to prepare artificial baby milk while a baby is crying and hungry.

There are tremendous cost savings. The artificial milk cost estimates vary greatly but let’s say that they cost on average $1800/year. Plus bottles and other preparation costs. What could you buy with the money you spend on formula? Break it down Weekly? Monthly? Yearly?

Of course, some moms pump and give babies pumped milk. But the cost of a pump and bottles are one time purchases that do not equate to the amount of the continual cost of purchasing artificial baby milk.

There are other costs as well. Babies who are breastfed are sick less often. Which means that they have less healthcare costs than other babies.  Parents of babies who are not breastfed miss on average 6 times more days of work due to illness then parents of breastfed babies.

Of course, there are the office visits, copays, and medications associated with those days as well.

Cost? How do you put a cost on a healthy baby?

10. Breastfeeding Is Healthier For Our Planet -

Breastmilk is the original natural, organic food for baby. It reduces our carbon footprint, produces no waste, is a sustainable method for feeding infants without a negative impact on the environment. If you are a parent concerned about eating clean and healthy and putting less artificial foods and chemicals in your diet and your child’s diet - well there is nothing more natural than breastmilk.

11. Breastmilk is Custom Ordered Every Meal Just For Your Baby.

Breastmilk is magic. It is a living organism.

It is custom made just for your baby. It is exactly what your baby needs at the exact time, day and age of your baby. Your Breast milk is different for a preterm infant, than a baby at term and at 20 days when breast milk is mature,  when you wean and at each age in between.  

It is your baby’s perfect meal, ordered up to the baby's needs each feeding. It's like an  appetizer of the more watery foremilk which satisfies his hunger quickly. Then, the heavier entree comes later with that rich, full fat hindmilk that will hold him over until his next feeding.

It is the exact right blend of fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, per feeding. It also has digestive enzymes, antibodies and growth factors and more.

Why do I say that breast milk is magic? As your baby grows the components of breastmilk change to give your baby exactly what he needs at each particular age. (So maybe it is your body and the baby’s body working as a team that are magic!!) Your breast milk will change composition even during a feeding depending on baby’s thirst and hunger - how much foremilk and how much hindmilk and other components. And it changes from morning until night in the course of a day.

Am I the only one that thinks that is just incredible? 

And if you - or the baby  are exposed to illness - you will make antibodies to the illness  - because your immune system is stronger than the baby's -  and you will deliver them to the baby in the breastmilk. How amazing is all of that?

That is not something that can be reproduced. Not by another mom. Not by a company in a can. Your milk is made for your own baby every day specially delivered. 

None of these 11 amazing benefits can be reproduced by anything that the formula companies provide. They try. But, they can’t.

So when you are making decisions about what to feed your baby or for how long, look back over this list and see these incredible benefits that breastmilk has for your baby’s health, for your health, your bonding with your baby, for improving your finances, for our environment and helping your baby grow.

Now, I don’t in any way want to downplay the struggle that breastfeeding can be for some mothers. It can often be difficult to get started and more so  if there is not an experienced supportive person to help. Some mothers need access to more  lactation support in the beginning than they have been able to find. 

Here are some resources to find lactation support in your own area if needed.

La Leche League International can help you find resources in your area 

The International Lactation Consultant Association can help you find a Certified Lactation Consultant in your area here

And the basis of successful breastfeeding starts with good education. 

If you want more information or are in need of a supportive community of other mothers to help you, come and join our FREE private Facebook group. I will be going deeper on specific topics related to breastfeeding LIVE in the group this week, so come get more information with us over there. 

This article is not a criticism of anyone’s choices. It is a fact based article about the benefits of breastfeeding based on many research articles. These are real, valuable benefits that I feel all parents should be aware of in order to make wise, fully informed, decisions for their family's future.  

If you are a mother who is able to breastfeed your child, then I urge you to strongly consider these benefits when making the decisions about your baby's feeding.

Let's have a conversation about these over in the Private Facebook community. I would love to hear your thoughts about these benefits and how they shape your decisionmaking.