Amazing facts about breastfeeding and breast milk
There are different options for getting your baby the nutrients they need during infancy, and if you choose to breastfeed, there are an array of health benefits associated with nursing. Some of those health benefits extend to Mom, too — like a decrease in risk for certain cancers. Read on to learn about the incredible properties of breast milk and why breastfeeding may be the right choice for you and your baby.
1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives. This recommendation is based on the myriad health benefits for the baby and breastfeeding mother.
2. Some of the benefits of breastfeeding for baby include reduced risk of a handful of serious health issues. Those include asthma, obesity, Type 1 diabetes, severe lower respiratory disease, ear infections, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and gastrointestinal infections. (Yes, breastfeeding can help prevent vomiting and diarrhea.)
3. Breastfeeding may lower a mother’s risk of certain diseases, too. Those include high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, ovarian cancer and breast cancer.
4. Breast milk changes during a feeding. When babies start breastfeeding, the milk is watery and a bluish color. Throughout the session, the milk changes appearance. At the end of the breastfeeding session, thicker and fattier milk appears.
5. Babies can identify their moms using their scent. Incredibly, newborn babies know their mother by her scent, and they have an awareness of the scent of their mother’s breast milk. It’s said that this is why babies turn their heads toward their mother when they’re hungry.
6. Breastfeeding improves bone density in mothers. During pregnancy, a woman’s body contains high levels of estrogen, which is good for building strong bones. Additionally, during pregnancy, many women get more calcium from increasing their food intake and through vitamins. Immediately after pregnancy, bone loss occurs, regardless of whether a mother breastfeeds. This is the result of lowered estrogen levels post-pregnancy. Newer studies show that breastfeeding can cause positive changes to bone density throughout a woman’s lifetime. This wasn’t always the case — it was previously believed that breastfeeding was linked to the development of osteoporosis.
7. “Mothering hormones” relaxin and oxytocin are released during feedings. Relaxin, a reproductive hormone, relaxes the joints, muscles and ligaments, while oxytocin is the hormone that produces positive feelings, mother-infant bonding and loving attachment.
8. Breastfeeding burns about 500 calories per day. That’s about the equivalent of a 40-minute run or an hour-long Zumba class.
9. You may need to eat more while breastfeeding. You could need as many as an extra 300-400 calories per day while breastfeeding in order to get the energy and nutrition necessary to produce milk.
10. Your body might heal from childbirth faster if you breastfeed. The hormones released when breastfeeding help the uterus shrink back to its pre-pregnancy state.
BJC HealthCare offers support for breastfeeding moms throughout the St. Louis area, including eastern Missouri and southern Illinois, as well as in Sullivan and Farmington, Missouri. Learn more:
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