My daughter Coriana is nearly two, and her favorite activity in the world is still breastfeeding. Throughout our nursing relationship, Coriana and I have experienced nearly all of the following nursing perks for ourselves, and I hope you also get to benefit from many of these amazing reasons to breastfeed your little one.
- Babies love to nurse. It feels natural to them, it tastes good, and it makes them feel good.
- Breast milk is the most healthy food for your baby. Your body produces the exact food that your baby needs, and formula can never match all the components that are in breast milk.
- I’ve often heard that breast milk provides immunities: whenever the mother encounters a virus, her body makes immunities to that specific virus and passes on those immunities in the milk. My daughter has gotten sick only about three times since she was born, even though I’ve gotten sick many more times than that.
- Breastfeeding brings comfort to your baby.
- Breastfeeding is an instant pain reliever for babies. When your baby falls down or slams her finger in the drawer, you don’t have to helplessly sit by, waiting for drugs to work while your baby screams in pain. Instead, pop out a boob and let the breast milk’s magic calm your baby and relieve his pain.
- Breastfeeding helps babies fall asleep.
- You get more sleep when you combine breastfeeding with co-sleeping, because when your baby wakes up at night, you can just roll over, offer your nipple, and fall back asleep. No need to get out of bed to get your baby back to sleep.
- The baby’s poop won’t stink until you introduce solid foods. And if you use cloth diapers, you can throw the breastfed-only baby’s poopy diapers in the laundry with the other diapers without needing to do extra cleaning first.
- Breastfeeding builds the attachment between you and your baby.
- It gives you a good excuse to pause and be with your baby, and no one can take that well-deserved rest away from you.
- You don’t have to worry about setting up feeding schedules and keeping track of how much and how often your baby eats. Just let your baby nurse whenever she lets you know she’s ready. You’ll pick up on her signals fast. If you don’t, she’ll cry to let you know she’s hungry.
- You get to eat more. Guilt free.
- It’s far more convenient. Your baby will always have plenty of food, and you don’t have to wash bottles and worry about germs.
- In an emergency, you can just grab your baby and go. Even if you don’t have food, your body will prioritize food for your baby so your baby doesn’t have to go hungry even if you do.
- Breastfeeding is often all it takes to change a baby’s fussy mood to a happy one.
- Nursing gives a baby a positive psychological outlook. It makes a baby feel secure and like everything is right. This sense of well-being is vital for the newest members of our society and can help your child have a positive psychological outlook on life. Many adults today struggle to overcome problems that began as an infant. Through breastfeeding, you can give your baby the best possible start in life.
- Breastfeeding helps prevent breast cancer.
- Your husband will appreciate your larger breasts. (And if he’s too demanding, you can use nursing as an excuse to keep him away.)
- It feels empowering to be able to feed your baby from your own body.
- You can be a counter culture person who helps to set a new standard of normal in our society. By breastfeeding, you apply positive peer pressure to other mothers that can help them make the same good choice for their babies.
These reasons to breastfeed don’t magically disappear when the baby turns one. Mothers in many cultures nurse their children until they’re six years old or older, and the World Health Organization recommends babies nurse until at least two years of age (http://www.who.int/topics/breastfeeding/en/). If breastfeeding is working for you and your baby, please consider continuing as long as you can, hopefully until your child naturally weans.
