Breastfeeding Vs Formula

On July 9th 2001 Gabriel Michael was born into the world a month in a half early. His mother

breastfed him for the first 7 months of his life. Today he is just the same as any other child running

around. You would never of known he was a premature baby. Breastfeeding is a better form of nourishing

and nurturing a newborn than formula feeding. It helps the baby in many ways. It gives the baby the

nutrition it needs. It also lets the mother and baby bond. It is very convenient. And it helps the baby

development in mental, deal with stress and health later in life.

The nutrition a baby gets from breastfeeding is amazing. Breast milk is the most complete form of

nutrition for infants. A mother's milk has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water and protein that is

needed for a baby's growth and development. Most babies find it easier to digest breast milk than they do

formula. As a result, breastfed infants grow exactly the way they should. They tend to gain less

unnecessary weight and to be leaner. This may result in being less overweight later in life. Premature

babies do better when breastfed compared to premature babies who are fed formula.

Breast milk has agents called antibodies in it to help protect infants from bacteria and viruses.

recent studies show that babies who are not exclusively breastfed for six months are more likely to

develop a wide range of infectious diseases including ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory illnesses and

have more hospitalizations. Some studies suggest that infants who are not breastfed have higher rates of

sudden infant death syndrome in the first year of life, and higher rates of type one and two diabetes,

lymphoma, leukemia, disease, overweight and obesity, high cholesterol and asthma.

I am a mother myself and I breast feed my daughter. She's 7 months old and as healthy as can

be. I have friends who also have little baby's. All of them breastfed for a month or less. I notice that their

children are less alert, and do tend to go to the hospital a lot more than mine. I am not trying to sit her and

bash on mothers who choose formula instead of breastfeeding. Sometimes there are certain

circumstances which make it so they aren't aloud to breastfeed. My friend had a horrible labor and was in

the ICU for three days. She was not even aloud to see her child for the first 24 hours after he was born. By

the time she was able to even try to breastfeed he refused the breast and wanted the bottle. Or another one

of my friends is a single parent so she had to stop breastfeeding in order to go back to work. But from

what I have noticed the majority of woman think it is easier and more convenient to bottle feed. Time and

time again I here "In the middle of the night its easier to make my husband get up and feed the baby."

Well sure he can get up put formula in the bottle, pour water and then micro wave it. Or you can put the

baby in bed with you lay on your side and breast feed? That takes a total of one minute maximum vs at

least four minutes? And then when you bottle feed you have to stay up and hold the bottle. Breastfeeding

you can just go back to sleep. Which I have done a few times! Also a lot of parents tell me "well when

your out isn't it hard because you cant just give them a bottle you have to go sit somewhere and

breastfeed."