The Good Things About Breast Feeding
Nuzzling your face in a pair of breasts does your body good. Oh, but give your newborn a little room. Studies show that breast feeding can in fact make your child:
- Leaner
- In a University of Munich study of 9,357 children, those raised on formula were twice as likely to become obese. The added sugar in formula may cause infants to store more body fat, says Bethany M. Hayes, M.D., an obsetrician in Maine.
- Smarter
- In a review of 20 studies involving more than 20,000 children, those who were breastfed showed IQs that were 3 to 5 points higher than those who were not breastfed. The polyunsaturated fat in breast milk may help brain development, says James W. Anderson, M.D., of the University of Kentucky.
- Healthier
- An Australian study of 2,187 children under age 6 found that infants who were breastfed for the first 4 months were 25 percent less likely to suffer from asthma or allergies later in life. Unfortunately, they were still in Australia.
Those are only a few benefits to the child, but what of the mother? Well, during lactation, the uterus of the mother is stimulated to contract to its normal size. It will also be easier for the nursing mother to lose pounds, since breast feeding burns calories.
For those horny couples, nursing can act as a contraceptive, though not a very reliable one. Frequent nursing supresses ovulation, making the chances of mestration or getting pregant less likely. If you'd rather not take a chance, pretty much all barriers of birth control are safe during nursing, including hormone injections and birth control pills.
The Bad Things About Breast Feeding
Everything comes with a catch, especially breast feeding. During the first few weeks of nursing, the mother can be in pain due to sore and cracked nipples. She may also experience engorgement, where the breasts become hard and painful, due to being too full of milk.
Common disease, such as the cold, flu, skin infections and diarrhea, can be passed to the offspring through breast feeding. Viruses can also do this. Women who are HIV positive should not breast feed. If the woman carries any disease, such as herpes or hepatitis, it may be best not to breast feed, also. In cases like that, the mother should consult a doctor whether or not it would be ok to breast feed or not.
Anyways, those are just some basic things about breast feeding. It really is the decision of the parents whether or not breast feeding will be an advantage to their child or not.