Helpful Guide: The benefits of breastfeeding

Helpful Guide: The benefits of breastfeeding

Breast milk is a dynamic, bioactive fluid: the composition varies between feeds, over time, and between mother-to-mother (Ballard & Morrow, 2013) The benefits of breastfeeding For baby
  • Reduced risk of infection (including gastrointestinal and respiratory) (La Leche League International, 2020)
    • A 2010 study in the UK showed that exclusive breastfeeding for at least 3 months could reduce morbidity due to infectious illnesses. (Payne & Quigley, 2016)
    • Breast milk is abundant in immune molecules (antibodies). Newborns have a decreased ability to fight illness due to their underdeveloped immune system. Breast milk can give an infant immunity to illness that mothers have been exposed to.
    • Human Milk Oligosaccharides (HMOs), found in abundance in breast milk, have proven antimicrobial properties against Group B Streptococcus - a common cause of neonatal sepsis and meningitis (Ackerman et al., 2017). Furthermore, HMOs aid in protecting the intestines (thus reducing the risk of infestation), promoting the growth of proven beneficial bacteria, and in turn indirectly modulating immune response by playing a role in inflammatory marker expression (Rousseaux et al., 2021).
  • Improved infant gut health (van den Elsen et al., 2019)
  • Reduced risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and an overall lower risk for death in the first year (Baby Friendly Initiative, 2020).
  • Further research is still needed to elucidate how breast milk affects the development of disease in children, but some research has shown that breastfeeding might reduce the risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease (NHS. Uk, 2020; NICHD, 2018).
For mother
  • Lowers the risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. (NHS. Uk, 2020)
Breastfeeding basics (La Leche League International, 2020; NHS. Uk, 2020) If possible, a mother should get both physical and emotional support from family, midwives, health visitor GP, and/or a lactation consultant. Breastfeeding is a learned skill for both mother.and baby. Although it is a natural act, the misconception that it “comes easy” immediately after the baby is born can unintentionally set mothers up for disappointment. However, most mothers agree that once the skill is learned it becomes second nature. This is another reason why support and guidance is important for every mother.
  1. Mother should be comfortable. A nursing pillow or just a few regular pillows are extremely helpful.
  2. The baby’s head should be supported, their body in a straight line, and the nose opposite the mother’s nipple, with the head tilted back slightly.
  3. Mother should be holding the baby close to her - she should not be hunched over and uncomfortable.
  4. Bring the baby to breast and let the baby latch. The latch might take some practice. If it is painful for the mother, then the latch again. The “sandwich hold” is especially useful when getting a newborn to learn how to latch.
  5. The baby needs to get as much of the lower areola as possible into their mouth, so they need to open their mouth very wide. When a mother places the baby at nose level it will encourage them to open wide. Some babies will need some encouragement- a mother can tickle her baby’s mouth with her nipple to get them to open their mouth.
  6. The mother should allow the baby to tip their head back to allow proper placement of the nipple at the back of the baby’s mouth.
  7. With a good latch, the mother should not feel pain and should see more of the nipple skin above the baby’s top lip than below the baby’s bottom lip.
  8. Once the baby latches, a mother should pay close attention to hearing any swallowing sounds and/or look at jaw movement below the ears that would indicate the baby is swallowing.
References
  1. Ballard, O., & Morrow, A. L. (2013). Human Milk Composition. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 60(1), 49–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2012.10.002
  2. Importance of Breastfeeding. (2020, August 6). La Leche League International. https://www.llli.org/breastfeeding-info/benefits/
  3. Unicef UK. (2020, April 15). Research on Infant Mortality. Baby Friendly Initiative. https://www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/news-and-research/baby-friendly-research/infant-health-research/infant-health-research-infant-mortality/
  4. Payne, S., & Quigley, M. A. (2016). Breastfeeding and infant hospitalisation: analysis of the UK 2010 Infant Feeding Survey. Maternal & Child Nutrition, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/mcn.12263
  5. Ackerman, D. L., Doster, R. S., Weitkamp, J. H., Aronoff, D. M., Gaddy, J. A., & Townsend, S. D. (2017). Human Milk Oligosaccharides Exhibit Antimicrobial and Antibiofilm Properties against Group BStreptococcus. ACS Infectious Diseases, 3(8), 595–605. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsinfecdis.7b00064
  6. Rousseaux, A., Brosseau, C., le Gall, S., Piloquet, H., Barbarot, S., & Bodinier, M. (2021). Human Milk Oligosaccharides: Their Effects on the Host and Their Potential as Therapeutic Agents. Frontiers in Immunology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.680911
  7. NHS website. (2020, December 7). Benefits of breastfeeding. Nhs.Uk. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/baby/breastfeeding-and-bottle-feeding/breastfeeding/benefits/
  8. What are the benefits of breastfeeding? (2018, July 27). NICHD. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/breastfeeding/conditioninfo/benefits
  9. van den Elsen, L. W. J., Garssen, J., Burcelin, R., & Verhasselt, V. (2019). Shaping the Gut Microbiota by Breastfeeding: The Gateway to Allergy Prevention? Frontiers in Pediatrics, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2019.00047
Kendamil recognizes that per the World Health Organisation (WHO) breastfeeding provides the best nutrition and protection from illness for babies. As such, mothers should be given guidance and support on everything related to breastfeeding including information on lactation and an appropriate diet while breastfeeding. Mothers should be informed on the drawbacks to not breastfeeding and/or stopping lactation as well as be made aware of the financial cost to formula feed. If a decision to use formula is made, it is important to discuss correct formula preparation techniques and sterilisation.
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