Advantages of Breastfeeding
(with a few cons)

Here are some pros and cons of breastfeeding .......you decide if its worth it!

Photo courtesy of Sharyn

Advantages of breastfeeding

• Get your pre-pregnancy weight back quicker! Yeah! Even that additional weight you want to get rid of is a lot easier while breastfeeding!

• Gives you a great excuse to take a break! (Hey, the baby has to eat!)

• It's FREE! With the exception of buying a breastpump and other items if you plan on going back to work and/or going for a night out on the town, breast milk is absolutely free!

• Nursing on your breast is your baby's first contact with the world. Kids explore the world with their mouths. You are your baby's first exploration!

• Breastfeeding can reduce your chance of getting breast cancer. Wonder why breast cancer is so prevalent nowadays? People don't nurse their babies like they use to.

• You may not see your menstrual period for almost 6 months or more, if you are breastfeeding only --- no formula or solids, and your baby nurses a lot.

I don't know about you, but I like not wearing a bulky pad or tampon around.

This also means that your chances of becoming pregnant are very slim.....but still be careful with that.....we don't want any "accidents".

• Your milk is always mixed, ready and at the right temperature for your baby. No need to stumble out of bed at night in the dark, turning on the blinding kitchen lights, fumbling to mix the formula....oh goodness! You might as well just wake up!

With breastfeeding you can just get your baby, if he's not already in bed with you, put him to your breast while laying down, and you both can go back to sleep. Bliss!

• I have never met a constipated breastfed baby, a gassy breastfed baby, but not a constipated one. And I don't give my babies water until they start eating solids. Still no constipation.

Breast milk truly is the perfect food.

• Breastfed babies have fewer illnesses and viruses. Even when they have it, it is not as severe and lasts only a short time. Sometimes no more than a couple of days!

• It is much easier to sooth a breastfed baby. When you are breastfeeding your baby, you are giving him three things that are very important to him and that he needs: 1)food, 2)familiarity, and 3)comfort in knowing that mommy is right there.

• According to IQ tests, breastfed babies are smarter. (On a personal note, I think all kids, whether breastfed or formula fed, are capable of learning anything they are taught)

• Breast milk is sweet! Go ahead. Taste it! I did. I wanted to know what my baby's food tasted like when some just happened to drop on my arm.....so I tasted it. Lucky kid. He gets to eat dessert all day!

• Did I mention that breast milk is free!?

Those are the advantages of breastfeeding. Let's look at the cons of breastfeeding.

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