Reasonable feeding plays important role in developing and proper growth of an infant’s body, contributing to keeping health, providing infection-resistance and other harmful outer factors resistance. Special attention belongs to the feeding of new-born babies, for their bodies lack nutrient supply, nutrient assimilation is under-developed due to deficient metabolism and outer harmful substances defense mechanism.
Efficient feeding of new-born infants is better provided by breastfeeding.
Breast milk is natural, fresh, always available, sterile and having proper temperature food for an infant. It is not only nutritious food, but also a source of biological properties absent in even the most highly-developed formulas. Hormones, bioactive substances, immune complex, live breast milk cells make beneficial impact on infant’s body. These provide optimal metabolism function and support organism’s resistance to harmful outer factors.
Breastfeeding is also the emotional and soul contact between mother and her child, providing unique biological impact on the infant’s body. When breastfed, the infants are more calm, patient, and friendly, further they would be closer to the mother, than the children fed with formula.
Early started breastfeeding contributes to earlier adaptation of an infant to the environment conditions.
Breast milk is the best in providing children with essential proteins, fats, carbons, the most vitamins and microelements. If breasfed, the child doesn’t need any other food, except his mother’s milk.
Breast milk inhabits baby’s tract with health-giving microorganisms and prevents infections. Breastfeeding prevents food allergy, chronic diseases of digestive organs.
Breastfed children are are less likely to suffer from digestion and flu illnesses, because breast milk contains lymphocytes, macrophages, and antibodies to the infection diseases the mother had.
Breastfeeding influences positively on the mother’s health, prevents such diseases as mastitis, breast and ovary cancer.
Regular breastfeeding prolongs menopause, being the natural contraceptive factor.
Practically all recently confined women are capable of breastfeeding. True inability to breastfeed occurs too much rarely. When having proper psychological support from the part of husband, doctor and family members, following all the medical instructions, the success would be in 90–95% cases.
The most important factors influencing proper lactation are the follows:
- Taking a child to breast in the first half and hour after the birth.
- Close contact between mother and child soon after the birth.
- Taking a child to breast each time he wants to eat.
- Proper infant’s position at breast, that makes feeding easier, provides milk coming just when it is needed, helps to prevent soring or crackling of nipples and breast hardening.
