What Are The Health Benefits Of Breastfeeding?

Breastfeeding has many benefits for our babies, containing all of the nutrients they need. It’s always the perfect temperature, easily digested, and contains antibodies that help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria.

Breast milk is made to nourish the baby but the delivery of the milk can also greatly benefit the mother, but how?

Hormonal goodness

Immediately after birth, the repeated feeding of the baby releases the hormones oxytocin and prolactin. Oxytocin helps calm new mother’s anxieties and puts her in a more relaxed state, this helps her deal with the stressors of having a new baby and helps her and her new baby bond.

Prolactin helps contract to the uterus back to normal size after birth which helps prevent postpartum haemorrhage. There are only benefitted from if breastfeeding for a prolonged period as studies have found believe that when a mother skips breastfeeding her hormones can go out of whack in her body.

Is it time to put down the bottle?

Healthy brain

Breastfeeding also provides psychological benefits to the mother. One of these benefits includes peace of mind. Knowing that you’re feeding your baby the best nutrients you can provide, which helps the mother feel more confident. Breastfeeding can also enhance your emotional health as it also provides one of the strongest human bonds through mother’s skin to skin contact with her child.

It also helps you save money – upward of $1000 a year and can save new mothers have to stress to ensure there’s always enough formula when on the go.

– RELATED: 5 Small Ways To Start Working Out Post-Pregnancy –

Fat burn

Lactating women mobilize fat better than non-lactating women. When the body produces milk, it’s a metabolic process that burns anywhere from 300 to 500 calories daily. This can help lose pregnancy weight quicker than a mother that does not breastfeed. In fact, research shows that women who did not breastfeed on average had 7 1/2 additional centimeters of fat around their waist than those who chose alternative methods.

During pregnancy, a lot of the body fat that is accumulated is visceral fat, and high amounts of visceral fat can put the mother at higher risk for diseases. A study found women that didn’t breastfeed were at higher risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer. So, it’s important for your health to do your best to get active post-partum to shed some of this additional fat that was gained during pregnancy.

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