Wonders of breastfeeding experience for mother as well as for baby!

Seeing a child nursing makes one so appreciative of how well the human body is designed so that breastfeeding gives the child nourishment while at the same time fostering the loving bond between the mother and the child. Baby grabbing the breast lovingly while feeding. Initially you will see this in the way the baby learns to love the breast. Baby is happy, when she saw the beloved breast being dug out of the blouse for her to feed on!

Breast is the central focal point of your baby's life. It is NOT just a food source but a source of comfort and security. It is soft and warm to feel and to baby's mouth, which a bottle certainly isn't. Baby feels safe and secure at Mommy's breast. All nursing mothers can vouch for the fact how well breastfeeding calms down a fussy baby. Breast is baby's natural pacifier and 'security blanket'.

Breastfeeding is a natural way of bonding with your child. Nursing and holding the child close causes the brain to release a hormone-like substance. Its release is especially pronounced with skin-to-skin contact. This hormone has been called the "love or bonding hormone". It provides a sense of calm and well being and helps the mother and child to bond together. It is involved in those mothering feelings we experience after giving birth to a child. Breast milk contains a wonderful hormone called, which induces sleepiness, both in the baby and the mother. It is the easiest method to put your child to sleep.

Breastfeeding is source of comfort and permanently attached to pacify a restless child in the evening and night. Child falls asleep within a couple of minutes of latching on breasts, whereas otherwise with bottle feeding one may have to spend long periods of time performing bribing rituals in order to get their children to go to sleep. Also, while nursing, the child will usually get much more skin-to-skin contact with Mommy - and that can make a difference in how well your baby grows. Studies show how premature infants grow much better if they are massaged and touched a lot by a human hand, and the same surely applies to babies born at term.

These good points should not cease at 6 months or at one year. The idea of a 2-year-old toddler climbing into Mommy's lap and asking to nurse is to be accepted and encouraged. The mothers who do breastfeeding a toddler is a natural and healthy part of raising children. Nursing can help the child during any kind of emotional upsets or family crises, or just simply through teething.

Breastfeeding works best when it is done "on demand", in other words whenever the baby wants to or shows cues of wishing to nurse. That can even mean up several times an hour in the beginning. First of all, infants have very small tummies and breast milk digests quickly, so the smaller the baby, the quicker she will be hungry again. Also, babies don't nurse for food only but also for comfort and security. Some culture values independence and visible accomplishments, which is seen also in the parenting advice one often sees: mothers are told to have infants sleep in a separate bed, force them to sleep through the night without nursing, or nurse on schedule. Wearing/carrying the baby a lot, and valuing the time spent breastfeeding are not emphasized. But even science has now found evidence that this is not the way to go.

Also, if you nurse on schedule, you may experience milk supply problems after about 3 months of nursing. This seems to stem from the fact that in the early months the milk-producing hormone prolactin plays an important role building the milk supply, but after a few months postpartum a different process, autocrine or local control takes over. It appears that this different process works if you developed adequate prolactin receptors during the first months - and that depends on how often you feed the infant: the more frequent the feeds, the greater the stimulation of receptor development.

Also it is known that the fat content of human milk varies during a feeding. The milk that the baby first gets from a full breast has less fat than the 'hindmilk' that he gets towards the end of the feeding. It is fat that makes one feel satisfied and full after a meal. If the nursing time is cut short, the baby does not get the fatty hindmilk. It means baby does not get enough calories for growth, and does not feel satisfied but can be fussy and crying right after nursing. So just let your baby decide!

Feed frequency influences milk fat concentration and so would appear capable of exerting a direct influence on milk quality. Overall, the fat concentration of milk taken at feeds would appear to be maximized both by increasing feed frequency and milk volume removal. It has been common to impose restrictions on both feed frequency and feed duration to the likely detriment of the baby's fat intake. Such restrictions may well have resulted in iatrogenic problems of breastfeeding, which would include fat restriction, symptoms of breast milk insufficiency, and underfeeding.

You might have health insurance, but the one would save enormous amounts in health care costs if children were breastfed more. But in addition to saving money, we should consider lives which would be saved annually if all babies were breastfed well.

Many pregnant women assume that breastfeeding comes 'naturally' and that it is easy from the first day on, and they are very disappointed if the reality is different. The fact is that it can hurt and you may have problems. In past when everybody breastfed, a new mother had plenty of other women around her giving her support and advice. Today, if your relatives or friends can't 'coach' you with nursing, there is a still lot of help available. Your nipples may be sore in the beginning until your breasts 'get the hang of it' or get sufficiently used to the new situation. The pain gets gradually less and seems to let up after the first month or so for most women. To help the pain, make sure baby is latched on so she is not pulling the nipple right or left, up or down, but is facing straight at the breast. Many find that side-laying is the position where this is easiest to achieve.

So do NOT suffer alone if breastfeeding is problematic, but find help before starting a supplemental bottle and assuming that you just don't have enough milk or that you just can't breastfeed or that your baby just won't learn to latch on, etc.

By Adolescence Educator