FIGURATIVELY, breast milk could be the primary “vaccine” for infants and kids. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) shows only 27 percent of Filipino children aged 6 to 35 months were exclusively breast-fed. With these minor numbers, it is awfully disappointing that many Filipino infants were not totally breast-fed despite a number of researchers saying, “Breastmilk is best.”
On January 28 a detailed report was published in The Lancet, a medical journal, also branded as the in-depth and comprehensive health scrutiny on breastfeeding worldwide and assumed to bear about eager transformation and adjustments on the conduct of breastfeeding internationally.
The medical journal also published that breast-feeding for infants and young children could save almost 820,000 children lives annually around the planet. Almost 13 percent of all deaths of kids under 5 was fortunately thwarted. On this note, breast-feeding should be entirely practiced not solely because of the whopping figures but as it further provide health benefits for both the mother and the baby based on conducted scientific studies. Below is the review of the Baby Center Medical Advisory board on the medical benefits of breast-feeding for both the mother and the baby:
Breastfeeding protects the baby from an array of upsetting diseases.
Most importantly, the largest benefit of breast-feeding is that it boosts the baby’s immune system, thereby, making the newborns more resilient and protected to hurtful diseases like respiratory illness, diarrhea, stomach viruses, ear infections and meningitis. Babies who are exclusively breast-fed, meaning no solid food or water, for at least six months appear to carry the topmost shield and protection. In addition, a study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences revealed that babies who were breast-fed have a 20- percent of lower risk of dying between the ages of 28 days and one year than babies who were not breast-fed.
The foremost immune factor is the substance called secretory immunoglobulin A (lgA) that can be found in large amounts in the first milk the mother’s body produces for her baby called colostrums. This substance guards the baby from attacking viruses and germs by forming a protective layer on the mucous membrane in the infant’s intestines, nose and throat.
Moreover, other studies have shown that breast-feeding exceedingly can slim down babies’ risk of developing different childhood cancers. Scientists hypothesized the antibodies in breast milk enhances the baby’s immune system. A host of diseases that strike later in their life, like type 1 and type 2 of diabetes, high cholesterol and inflammatory bowel disease, can also be avoided through breast-feeding.
Babies who had low birth weights and infants who breast-fed for short periods are more likely to experience chronic inflammation, which is associated to heart disease in adults. This inflammation is as well largely interrelated with cardiovascular disease. More so, infants who were entirely not breast-fed could later develop Crohn’s disease, ulcerative and colitis. Besides, this major practice can also safeguard the baby from building up allergies. Babies who are fed a formula based on cow’s milk have a tendency to have more allergic reactions than breast-fed babies.
Breast-feeding may boost your baby’s intelligence.
In an examination of above 17,000 children followed from birth to six-and-a-half years, examiners found out from IQ scores and further intelligence tests that lengthy and exclusive breast-feeding extensively improves the babies’ brain capacity and cognitive development.
Another study with 4,000 students reveals that babies who are breast-fed had higher scores on vocabulary tests at 5 years of age than infants who weren’t breast-fed. Moreover, experts say that the emotional bonding or the skin-to-skin physical closeness between the mother and the baby during breast-feeding contributes to some brainpower benefits; however, the fatty acids in breast milk could play the chief role.
Breast-feeding may guard your child from obesity.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggested that breastfeeding should be regularly followed as a way of reducing the baby’s risk of becoming overweight or obese. An analysis of 17 studies published in the American Journal of Epidemiology demonstrates that breastfeeding lessens an infant’s risk of becoming obese as a teen or adult.
Thus, experts believed that breast-feeding may influence later weight gain because (1) breast-fed babies are better at eating until their hunger is satisfied, leading to healthier eating patterns as they grow; (2) breast milk contains less insulin than formula; and (3) breastfed babies have more leptin in their system, a hormone that researchers suppose plays a role in regulating appetite and fat.
Breastfeeding may lower baby’s risk of SIDS.
The jeopardy of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) can be trimmed down through either partial or exclusive breastfeeding according to a German study. The researchers concluded that exclusive breast-feeding at 1 month of age put off the possibilities of SIDS in half.
The United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends breast-feeding for as long as possible to cut the risk of SIDS.
Breast-feeding diminishes the mother’s risk of postpartum depression.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) evaluated more than 9,000 study abstracts and wrapped up that women who didn’t breast-feed or those who stopped breastfeeding early on had an elevated risk of postpartum depression.
Conversely, many mothers feel calm and relaxed while nursing because breast-feeding initiates the release of hormone oxytocin, which is believed to be responsible for promoting nourishment and relaxation. Oxytocin also helps the mother’s uterus contract after birth that results in less postpartum bleeding. Also, another study had showed that women who had high amounts of oxytocin in their systems had lower blood pressure after being asked to converse about a worrying personal dilemma.
Breast-feeding reduces mother’s risk of ovarian and breast cancer.
Above and beyond, the longer a woman breast-feeds the longer her protection against ovarian and breast cancer, according to numerous studies. Also, an estimated 20,000 women’s death per year could be prevented through breast-feeding. For breast cancer, breast-feeding for a minimum of a year seem to encompass the most defensive and caring effect.
The method on how breast-feeding helps in the prevention of these kinds of cancers is still unclear, yet, it may perhaps deal with the structural changes in breast tissue caused by breast-feeding and that lactation restrains the amount of estrogen your body manufactures. Scientists deemed the ensuing effect on ovarian cancer may be linked to estrogen suppression, as well.