What are the benefits of breastfeeding?

A hundred years ago, babies who were not breastfed had a hard time surviving. After formula was developed, their lives became a lot easier – and a lot longer. Early formulas were far better than unpasteurized cow milk and other milks they replaced. Over the years, dramatic improvements have been made. Formula companies work very hard to find out what human milk nutrients they can add to formula to make it better. Every few years they find another one. The latest is DHA (docosahexanoic acid), a fat found in mothers’ milk that is important for infant brain development. So today’s formula fed babies have a better chance for optimal brain development than they would have a few years ago.
This is wonderful news. But, scientists estimate that mothers’ milk may have over a hundred thousand components. We do not know why there are so many or what they all do. Formula contains a few dozen – the ones scientists (today) believe are most important. Tomorrow’s formula will be even better as the companies identify and add more of the nutrients in mothers’ milk.
Meanwhile, breastfed babies get all of these nutrients automatically – even the ones we don’t understand. Breastfed babies also get specialized immune protection through the milk. Mothers’ milk changes constantly to fight the germs that threaten baby, so every mother’s milk is different. Every mother’s milk is designed to fight the germs in her environment. In poor countries, this can make the difference between life and death. In the U.S., medical care makes the difference between life and death. Here, babies who are not breastfed are not more likely to die from illness*, but they are more likely to go to the hospital. In fact, in this country,
Infants who are breastfed exclusively for at least 3 months are 1/3 less likely to be readmitted to the hospital in the first year of life than infants who are not breastfed.
In this country, we see more ear infections, diarrhea, respiratory infections, meningitis, constipation, colic, asthma, and many other illnesses in children who are formula fed than in read more