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Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding your baby is by far the most natural; doctor recommended, ideal
and best food for your baby. Breast milk is perfectly designed to meet every
need of your baby and it has very unique properties that cannot be copied in a
formula. Breast milk contains all of the essential nutrients and antibodies that
are perfectly matched to what your baby needs. Its composition is so perfect
that your baby will experience less diarrhea, constipation and digestive upsets.
With the antibodies that are in the breast milk your baby will be better
prepared to fight off viruses and bacteria, while building his or her immune
system. Another advantage of breast milk is that it changes and adapts to your
baby’s needs, while the act of breastfeeding itself helps form a close,
emotional bond between mom and baby.
Bottle-feeding (Formula)
While it is always strongly recommended that mothers breastfeed their baby’s,
there are many reasons that some mothers may be unable to or choose not to
breastfeed. When breastfeeding in not an option due to a mothers illness,
prescription medicines, heart or kidney disease, HIV/ AIDS or a number of other
reasons, the three other doctor recommended alternatives are expressed milk from
other, human milk from a donor or milk bank and the 4th alternative is infant formula.
When nursing at the mother's breast is not possible, the use of a nursing
supplementer, such as the one offered by Lact-Aid (www.lact-aid.com)
is a good option to try next with either expressed milk or milk from a donor or
milk bank. As the final alternative, infant
formula is designed to imitate the content and activities of human milk as much
as scientifically possible. While there is no formula that can duplicate the
perfection of breast milk, it is the only alternative when breast milk is not an
option. Formulas contains all the vitamins, minerals and iron your baby needs,
but since there are so many brands and variations of formula, be sure and have
your doctor tell you which one to use.
It’s recommended by most doctors that babies are breastfed until they are at
least 9 to 12 months of age. But due to different reasons you may only be able
to go a few months or maybe use a combination of breast and formula to feed your
baby the full twelve months. Discuss the subject with your doctor and you both
can decide on what is best for you and your baby.
As a
final note, with the increase of babies being adopted and arriving by surrogate,
these surrogate and adopting parents-to-be may also consider breastfeeding a
positive way to nourish their babies. Thanks to a nursing supplementer,
such as the one offered by Lact-Aid (www.lact-aid.com),
babies can receive all the ancillary benefits of breastfeeding regardless of how
much milk is produced.
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