What is breastfeeding?
Breastfeeding is the process in which a mother feeds her newborn baby with the milk secreted from her breasts. Breast milk will be the baby’s main food until the age of two. This breast milk is composed of all the nutrients that a newborn baby will need until six months of age, being until then its only food.
The main components of breast milk are as follows:
- Fats: the fat in breast milk is important for the neurological development of the child.
- Carbohydrates: the main carbohydrate is lactose, which in the case of breast milk, its presence is higher than in others. Oligosaccharides are also important carbohydrates for fighting infections.
- Proteins: breast milk has less protein than “normal” milk, making it more suitable for the infant.
- Vitamins and minerals: breast milk provides the necessary amount of all vitamins, with the exception of vitamin D, which will be obtained through sun exposure.
- Anti-infective factors: some are white blood cells, serum proteins, oligosaccharides or immunoglobulins.
- Bioactive factors: an example is lipase, which helps to digest fat in the small intestine or for example epidemic growth factor, which will stimulate the maturation of the cells of the intestinal mucosa, thus improving the absorption and digestion of nutrients.
Why is breastfeeding done?
Breast milk is a substance that contains practically all the components necessary to sustain a baby during its first six months of life. In this way, the baby’s health, maturation and growth are strengthened.
In fact, many of the components of breast milk will be responsible for protecting the child from external agents while the immune system is still being formed. Thus, breast milk will help protect the baby from diarrhea, colds, bronchiolitis, otitis, urinary tract infections and a long etcetera.
In the same line, it favors the baby to suffer from future diseases such as asthma, allergy or diabetes, helping in turn to promote their intellectual development.
In addition, it should be mentioned that breast milk not only favors or helps the baby’s development, but also brings some benefits to the mother. These are some of them:
- The weight gained during pregnancy is lost faster.
- It is more difficult to have anemia after pregnancy.
- There is less risk of hypertension and postpartum depression.
- Breast and ovarian cancer, as well as osteoporosis, are less frequent in women who breastfed their children.
What does breastfeeding consist of?
As such, breastfeeding is the process of feeding the mother to her newborn baby through the milk secreted by her breasts. The milk will contain all the substances necessary for the correct nourishment of the baby.
During the first six months of the baby’s life, feeding should be exclusively through breast milk. After that, it is recommended to supplement it with other nutrients up to two years of age.
Preparing for breast milk
Already during pregnancy, a woman’s breasts are naturally prepared to begin the breastfeeding process, after the development of the mammary ducts and milk producers, so the breasts will increase in size during pregnancy.
Although it is a completely natural process, it is important that the pregnant woman prepares and adapts the breast for breastfeeding, performing some care that will prevent the appearance of some problems, such as fissures or cracks in the nipple.
Thus, to keep the nipple healthy and adequate, the following is recommended:
- Wash the breast with water
- Wearing a comfortable and appropriate bra
- Expose the nipple to the sun for a quarter of an hour daily.
- Massage the breasts once or twice a day.