Why Breastfeed?
Your doctor or midwife has probably already told you about the many benefits of breastfeeding where your baby is concerned, but you may not know that nursing also offers mothers a host of benefits. When you nurse your baby immediately after birth, the nuzzling and sucking helps release oxytocin, which creates contractions that can prevent postpartum hemorrhage and also help the uterus return to its prepregnancy state quicker.
Breastfeeding helps delay the return of your period and can act as a natural form of child spacing as long as a baby is nursing exclusively, frequently, and through the night (without getting formula, food, or a pacifier). Most women will be infertile with this kind of nursing, especially in the early days, though like any method, breastfeeding is not 100 percent effective. For more information about the lactational amenorrhea method (LAM) of contraception, see Chapter 11. Delaying your period will also help your body retain its iron stores and reduce the risk of iron-deficiency anemia. Studies suggest that the calories burned during nursing — between 200 and 500 per day — can help nursing mothers lose pregnancy weight more quickly.
Fact
Breastfeeding moms enjoy many long-term health benefits. Studies have shown that breastfeeding can lead to a lower risk of heart disease, osteoporosis, and reproductive cancers like ovarian, cervical, and uterine cancers. Breastfeeding also cuts a woman's risk of breast cancer drastically. Breastfeeding for two years has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer by 50 percent.
Breastfeeding may also make you feel good — the hormones that help your body produce milk, oxytocin and prolactin, can induce a state of calmness and help you relax. They're also associated with the strong sense of love mothers often feel for their newborn babies and can both help prevent the baby blues and promote bonding with your baby. And, of course, breastfeeding is free, travels easily, and many new moms find it more convenient than the bottle washing, mixing, and heating that go along with formula feeding.
Breastfeeding frequently over the first few days will help your milk come in more quickly, and it will help your body learn how much milk to make to satisfy your baby. When you nurse frequently — when your baby wants to, rather than on a rigid schedule — it will help your mature milk come in on time, usually between the second and fifth day after your baby is born.
