Everything you need to know about breastfeeding

Breast milk is renowned for how vital it is to a baby’s growth and development: it helps protect against illness and infection and strengthens the immune system.

Its importance is so well established that the world’s major health bodies recommend babies be fed breast milk alone until six months of age, and continue breast milk alongside solid food from six months to a year.

When you breastfeed your baby, you not only lower the risk of cot death (SIDS) — you also reduce the chances of your child later experiencing allergies, type 1 diabetes, asthma, obesity, middle-ear infections, digestive infections, high blood pressure in adulthood, and pneumonia. Premature babies fed breast milk are also at lower risk of respiratory infections and of developing a serious intestinal inflammation known as NEC.

What’s in breast milk, and how it protects your baby

Breast milk’s remarkable health benefits come from the many components it contains. Each plays its own role in supporting the immune system, and together they form a unique compound with no substitute:

• Oligosaccharides (HMOs) — special sugars in breast milk that block disease-causing agents. Around 200 different oligosaccharides have been identified in breast milk so far, compared with just a handful in formula. They inhibit the growth of pathogens and feed the beneficial bacteria of the microbiome. Their makeup differs between mothers of full-term babies and mothers of babies born prematurely.
• Lactoferrin — an iron-binding protein that helps reduce inflammation.
• HAMLET — a compound that helps prevent the development of cancer cells.
• IgA — an antibody essential for protecting the body’s mucous membranes, encouraging a healthy balance of gut bacteria.
• IgG — an antibody that helps protect your baby against infection.
• Immunoglobulin SIgA — an antibody that helps prevent infection.
• Macrophages — cells that engulf and destroy bacteria.
• Proteins — supply amino acids that are critical to your baby’s development, along with powerful immune protection.
• Lactalbumin — can destroy cancer cells.
• Lysozyme — breaks down the cell walls of bacteria and destroys them.
• Antioxidants — with anti-inflammatory properties.
• Probiotics — friendly bacteria that support digestion, strengthen the immune system, and help prevent constipation.
• Fats — the main source of energy in breast milk, and hugely important for the development of your baby’s brain and eyesight.
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Passive immunity for your baby

In the final three months of pregnancy, antibodies pass to your baby through the placenta. This is passive immunity, giving temporary protection for the first weeks of life.

After birth, breast milk becomes an immune bridge between you and your baby. You continue to pass on antibodies and anti-inflammatory, anti-infective factors that act as passive immunity through breastfeeding. Your baby’s saliva at the breast even signals their needs to your body, so the milk you produce adapts to give them exactly what they need. This protection lasts in step with how long you breastfeed, and stays with your child through life.

An effect on every system in the body

The main purpose of human breast milk is to provide immune protection and guidance. Breast milk keeps the cells of the intestinal lining open for the best possible absorption of nutrients.

Formula, by contrast, is recognised by a baby’s body as foreign, and even the smallest exposure can cause the intestinal cells to close. This can trigger ongoing inflammation that raises the risk of illness — one reason constipation, diarrhoea, stomach pain, bowel conditions, and allergies are more common among formula-fed babies.

Building a strong microbiome

The microbiome is the general name for the population of bacteria in the body. Its development early in life is a crucial window for long-term health, disease prevention, and lifelong immunity.

Breast milk is living human tissue that supports the best possible development of the microbiome in a baby’s gut. Breastfed babies develop distinct gut bacteria, different from those of babies who aren’t breastfed. These bacteria help build and strengthen the immune system, reduce the risk of allergies, and may even lower the risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic conditions.

Long-term benefits

As your baby moves on to solid food, the amount of milk you produce decreases — but the concentration of antibodies and the percentage of fat in it rise.

Breast milk for toddlers provides over 40% of their protein needs, about a third of their energy, more than a third of the recommended calcium intake, and almost all their vitamin B12 — even when a child nurses just two or three times a day.

Studies have found fewer allergies among toddlers who breastfed into their second year. Toddlers who breastfed for longer were also found to have greater self-confidence, more independence, and a closer bond with their parents. So it’s no surprise that breastfed toddlers tend to fall ill less often, and recover faster when they do.

Breastfeeding has benefits for you, too

Your baby isn’t the only one who gains. When you breastfeed, you lower your own risk of cardiovascular disease, breast and ovarian cancer, osteoporosis, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and type 2 diabetes — on top of strengthening the secure bond between you and your baby.

יועצות ההנקה שלנו מסתובבות במחלקות לאורך היום לכל שאלה וזמינות לך להדגמות, עידוד ולתמיכה נפשית בכל עת!