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The battle between breast milk and formula milk: Which one is better for your baby's health?
Breast milk, or mother's milk, is essential for the nutrition of newborn babies. According to the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), exclusive breastfeeding should continue for the first six months of an infant's life. During this period, breast milk provides unparalleled nutrients, including fat, protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins.
Breast milk contains antibodies and other natural ingredients that help your baby fight infection and inflammation.
As your baby grows, the composition of your mother's milk changes to meet her growing nutritional needs. Not only that, but breast milk contains substances that contribute to the development of a healthy immune system and gut microbiome.
Benefits of Breast Milk
Breastfeeding has numerous health benefits for both mother and baby. For babies, breastfeeding helps reduce the risk of ear infections, colds and flu, and can even reduce the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome. In addition, long-term breastfeeding is also effective in reducing the risk of childhood diabetes and obesity.
Scientific research shows that breastfed babies have higher intelligence levels.
For mothers, breastfeeding helps the uterus return to its pre-pregnancy size and reduces the risk of postpartum hemorrhage. Breastfeeding is also thought to reduce the risk of future breast cancer.
Comparison of Breast Milk and Formula
While many mothers today choose formula feeding for a variety of reasons, the benefits of breast milk are undeniable. Although the nutritional composition of formula milk has been improved, it is still unable to completely replace the prebiotics and antibodies provided by breast milk.
In some cases, breast milk can even provide additional immune support for babies that formula cannot.
Formula often contains more protein and less digestible ingredients than breast milk, which can put an extra strain on a baby's kidneys. In contrast, breast milk is not only easier for babies to digest, but also helps establish a stable intestinal flora.
Storage and use of breast milk
For mothers who are unable to breastfeed all the time, expressed breast milk can be safely stored and used to feed the baby. However, it is important to note that breast milk must be stored in airtight containers to avoid spoilage and loss of antibodies.
Proper storage methods ensure the quality of breast milk and thus protect the health of your baby.
About the effects of drugs
Many drugs pass into breast milk, so choosing the right drug during breastfeeding is particularly important for the safety of mother and baby. Some drugs can have dangerous effects on babies, so mothers need to consult their doctors whether they can use drugs while breastfeeding.
Whether to choose breastfeeding or formula feeding should ultimately be decided based on each family's circumstances. However, breast milk does provide irreplaceable advantages in many ways. The choices and decisions a mother makes during this process not only affect the health of her baby, but also have long-term implications for the future of her family. So, for you who are about to become parents, what will you choose?
