Feeding formula to babies versus Breastfeeding

There are many misconceptions today about feeding formula to babies and it being equal to breastfeeding. Breast milk is complex and species-specific; it targets growth and development of infants and provides disease protection. Both breast milk and formulas contain similar nutrients, but formulas are not an exact copy of breast milk. Formula may maintain growth and development, but it doesn’t contain hormones, live cells, immunologic agents, or enzymes, all of which are contained in breast milk. Breast milk contains four-hundred nutrients that cannot be recreated in a laboratory. Formula compositions don’t change to meet the infant’s changing needs. Although many formulas are similar to breast milk, they have drastic differences in quality and quantity of nutrients. Breastfeeding is not only the choice of a certain way of life; it is a medical issue for mother and baby.

Breastfeeding mothers can rest at ease knowing that children aren’t the only ones who benefit from breastfeeding. “Nursing mothers enjoy a reduced risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and osteoporosis.”(Coburn Issue 95) Authors of What to Expect From your Toddler and researchers at Healthwise both agree that breastfeeding helps the mother to have a quicker recovery from the stresses of pregnancy, labor, and delivery. For some mothers the fact that breastfeeding will help them to shed leftover pregnancy pounds, by burning at least five hundred extra calories a day, is reason enough not to formula feed yet, the reassuring thought of the everyday conveniences of breastfeeding is by far just as great of a thrill. Breast milk is always in stock, ready to use, clean, and consistently the perfect temperature. Most mothers are also relaxed by knowing tha...

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...auses the deaths of one and a half million babies every year and ill health in countless others.

Works Cited

1.)Acta paediatrica 2002 March

2.)Naomi Baumslag, MD, PHD, and Dia L. Michels, Milk, Money and Madness: The culture and Politics of Breastfeeding. Wesport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, 1995.

3.)Coburn, Jennifer. “Formula for Profit: How Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes the of Babies”

Mothering July / August 2001 Issue 101

www.mothering .com/articles/articles.shtml/

4.)Correa, Wendy. “Eco-Mama: Why Breastfeeding is Best for Babies… and the Envirorment” Mothering July/ August 2001 Issue 95

www.mothering .com/articles/articles.shtml/

5.)Eisenburg, Arlene & Hathaway Sandee E., BFN & Markoff Heidi E. What to Expect from the First Year

New York, New York: Workman Publishing Company Incorporated 1989