The term exclusive breastfeeding might not sound familiar to many of you. It is nothing but a coinage to denote the process of sustaining a newborn child solely on breast milk, without any other food supplement. It’s an unparalleled way of benefiting both the offspring and the mother. WHO (World Health Organization) has declared 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding to be an essential part of the healthy development of the baby. However, there are a few drawbacks to exclusive breastfeeding too.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Exclusive Breastfeeding
Advantages of Exclusive Breastfeeding
Numerous researches conducted all over the globe suggest that exclusive breastfeeding of babies based on only breast milk with no complementary food for 6 months after birth has several physical advantages. Here’s a list of the top 5 of them
1. Ultimate protection
Exclusive breastfeeding safeguards your newborn from plenty of diseases. It’s not possible to cure a delicate human child using strong medicines if it falls sick. Meningitis, stomach viruses, inflammatory bowel diseases, respiratory problems are the most common issues with breastfed infants. Sustenance exclusively on breast milk and no formula food cuts down the risk of all these ailments to a large degree. The potential risk of high blood pressure and type 1 and 2 diabetes in teenagers is also curbed.
2. The immunoglobulin factor
A substance called immunolglobin A is present in a large quantity in colostrum, the first milk a mother produces immediately after the birth of the baby. It is the main immune factor of exclusive breastfeeding as it forms a layer of protection over the mucous membranes of the nose, intestine, and throat of the baby. The concentration of Iga reduces drastically after a year as it starts maturing
3. The exclusive potion
Mother Nature braces a pregnant woman with all the necessary things she will need to nourish her child. Breast milk is a natural food for babies and its components are perfectly suitable for a body that has an underdeveloped digestive system but requires a high amount of energy for growth. The immunoglobin present in the colostrum creates a security barrier against the pathogens a newborn’s body easily responds to.
4. Easy to digest
An infant, unlike grown-ups, cannot digest solid or even formula foods. Before 6 months, formula food, cow milk or soy milk can trigger allergic reactions. No such problem occurs with the breastfed children. It is because breast milk forms a layer on the intestinal tract.
5. Promotes wholesome development
Protein is the building block of the body. The level of amino acid found in fresh breast milk is ideally balanced for a human baby. The amounts of sugar (lactose) and fat are also well-balanced.
Disadvantages of Exclusive Breastfeeding
1. Need to be fed frequently
Exclusive breastfeeding has a few roadblocks. One of them is the necessity to feed in every 2-3 hours. If the mother is not physically fit for it or not available within every 3 hours for breastfeeding, the situation becomes really troublesome for the mother when she requires taking little breaks from her work frequently.
2. Transmission of medication
If the lactating mother is taking certain kinds of antidepressants for the post-baby blues or any other medicine for a particular disease, the doctor advises not to breastfeed the baby if the drug can potentially harm the child. In such cases, the parents need to look for an alternative breastfeeding option or formula feed which may not give your child wholesome nourishment.
3. Strict diet for the mother
The nourishing mothers need to maintain a strict diet post-pregnancy, avoid spicy food, carbonated, alcoholic beverages as it might hinder the secretion and quality of colostrum. It can also cause gas problems in the baby as the food the mother consumes passes on to the baby through breast milk, some mothers feel tired of their pre-pregnancy diet and give it up after the delivery.
4. Quantity confusion
The use of a bottle is not an option in exclusive breastfeeding as the only source of nourishment is consumed straight from the mother’s breast. Therefore, without any mode of measurement of the milk, it becomes difficult to ascertain whether the baby is getting enough nourishment not.
5. The absence of mother
A great disadvantage of exclusive breastfeeding is that only the new mother is capable of producing fresh milk for the child. In a case where the mother has demised or suffered from a contagious disease, the baby needs to be fed on formula food only.
Top 5 ways of Breastfeeding benefits Mothers
Breast milk is a complete meal for a newborn. It doesn’t require consuming any complimentary food, not even water other than breast milk up to 6 months of its birth. Breast milk is nature’s own way to enable a woman to play the divine role of a mother. It has a mixture of vitamins, fat, protein and other nutrients absolutely ideal for a human baby. Apart from rapid and healthy growth, it also helps your little champ to fight against various diseases as well. Breastfeeding is a way of bonding with your offspring emotionally. The list of benefits of breastfeeding for the child is huge but did you know that the newborn mother enjoys no less advantage from the same as well?
1. Shed those extra pounds
Yes, you heard it perfectly right. Breastfeeding will help you to lose the extra weight you put on during the pregnancy period. There are ample myths associated with breastfeeding and weight loss. According to some, it’s hard to get back to shape after breastfeeding. Ditch the myths and pay attention to the facts. While you are pregnant, your body naturally develops layers of extra fatty tissues in order to secure adequate fat deposits to support breastfeeding.
Honestly, you won’t start losing weight immediately after the birth of the child. Only after the first 6 months of the post-pregnancy called the transitional period, you can burn calories with the help of a well-balanced diet and proper exercise. You need to keep in mind that your optimised diet will have an impact on the quality of breast milk, so don’t compromise the quality of the food you consume. Also, keep yourself hydrated generously with water and fruit juice. If you manage all the aspects well, you can burn up to a whopping 400 calories a day by feeding 20 ounces of milk to the baby.
2. Psychological effect
The suckling of the baby promotes the release of oxytocin hormone from the pituitary gland of the mother. This hormone is essential for the milk ejection reflex which is, to put in simple words, the process of signalling the breast to secrete milk for the baby. Apart from that, it also aids in the uterus contract. The contraction prevents postpartum haemorrhage or post-delivery blood loss. Not only this, oxytocin promotes uterine involution, which returns to the normal size of the uterus. A breastfeeding mother’s uterus gets back to the non-pregnant state in 6 weeks whereas it takes a non-breastfeeding mother 10 weeks.
3. Helps to stay Amenorrheic
Amenorrhea is the absence of a menstrual period noticed among women of reproductive age. Its symptoms are quite common during the pregnancy as well as the lactation period. As long as a nourishing mother is capable of exclusive breastfeeding, the return of her menstruation period is also delayed. Lactational amenorrhea has wonderful physiological benefits for mothers. It helps in the conservation of essential iron in the body. The amount of iron required for breast milk production is minimal in comparison to the amount she will lose from menstruation. Therefore the recurrence of the menstruation cycle can result in anaemia. The longer the span of breastfeeding, the more the menstruation remains at bay. The lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) is a successful contraceptive method. It almost guarantees 99 % prevention of conceiving in the first six months post-delivery.
4. Health benefits
A number of studies implied the potential health benefits of breastfeeding for mothers. The physiological advantages of breastfeeding on the mothers are overlooked more than often. The production of milk is a natural metabolic process. On average, it needs 250 to 500 calories per day it. A breastfeeding mother automatically loses this amount of calories while feeding. This is particularly beneficial for mothers with a history of gestational diabetes since the blood sugar level goes down while the baby is suckled.
5. Cure for type 1 diabetes
Nourishing mothers with type 1 diabetes tend to require less insulin ingestion. This can be attributed to the reduced level of blood sugar. They also tend to have a healthy cholesterol level with a high amount of HDL. The improved blood circulation, lower blood sugar, and presence of HDL give protection for lactating mothers against heart disease. It subsequently cuts down the hazard of a heart attack as well.