World Breastfeeding Week: Five ways breastfeeding is good for moms
Join the world in celebrating World Breastfeeding Week by learning about the amazing benefits moms get from breastfeeding their babies.
Are you pregnant or a new mom and wondering if you should breastfeed? The answer is yes!
Breastfeeding Week is observed all around the world and aims to encourage and highlight the importance of breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding has been proven to have enormous health benefits for both mothers and their babies.
For babies, breastmilk has long-term beneficial effects on the health, nutrition, and the intellectual development of a child.
Breastmilk can also help protect them from infection. This is according to a study by UCT that found that mothers can transfer lifelong protection against infection to their infants by breastfeeding.
Enough about the babies' benefits. Let's look at the benefits of breastfeeding for moms.
Recovery
Apart from babies, moms also reap great benefits from breastfeeding their children. It helps them recover from pregnancy and delivery.
Parents.com reports that breastfeeding triggers your uterus to shrink back to pre-pregnancy size. It also states that 'the oxytocin released when your baby nurses help your uterus contract, reducing post-delivery blood loss.'
Weight-loss
Breastfeeding has also been found to help women lose weight after birth. According to Mayo Clinic, “when you breast-feed, you use fat cells stored in your body during pregnancy — along with calories from your diet to fuel your milk production and feed your baby,"
Helps strengthen your bond with your baby
Breastfeeding has been proven to help improve maternal-infant bonding. During breastfeeding, the mom and baby have skin-to-skin contact and get to deepen their relationship.
Lower chances of cancer
Breastmilk has been found to have anti-cancer cells. South African Breastmilk Reserve reports that breastfeeding decreases the risk of invasive breast cancer by 7%, the risk of ovarian cancer by 18%, and it can also reduce the chances of your child developing childhood cancers.
Saves you money
Store-bought milk or formula is not cheap, but you don’t have to buy breastmilk.
Not only is breastmilk free, but it is also convenient, and its nutritional value by far outweighs formula.
There you go... now you have more reasons to breastfeed your baby!
READ: 5 South African celebrities who support public breastfeeding
Image courtesy of iStock/ tatyana_tomsickova