Breast milk provides the ideal nutrition for babies and infants. It has a nearly perfect mix of vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins, sugars, and fat – everything a growing baby needs – and is easy for small stomachs to digest. Research suggests that breastfed babies have a lower risk of:
- Asthma
- Childhood leukemia (cancer)
- Childhood obesity
- Ear infections
- Eczema (a skin rash)
- Diarrhea and vomiting
- Lower respiratory infections
- Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract (esophagus, stomach, small and large intestines)
- Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- Type 2 diabetes
Babies are not the only ones that can benefit from breastfeeding. Moms who breastfeed have a lower risk of:
- Type 2 diabetes
- Certain types of breast cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Postpartum blood loss
- Postpartum depression
There is some evidence that breastfeeding may help you lose weight. Women who breastfeed burn between 300 – 500 extra calories a day, and doctors recommend eating a few extra hundred calories a day to make up for the loss. However, if those calories come from processed, high fat, high sugar foods, you will probably not get to your pre-pregnancy weight just by breastfeeding alone. All breastfeeding moms need to eat a healthy diet to ensure they get the proper nutrition.