When making the choice of how to feed your baby, it is important make an informed choice. This means taking into consideration all of the factors surrounding feeding your baby so you and your baby will be 100% satisfied with the decision!

First, take a look at some of the advantages:

Biochemical/Nutritional Considerations

• Cow's milk and human milk is different ~ cow's milk is made for calves.
• Despite the efforts of infant formula companies, there are still many factors that are different - significantly different - unstable and chemically altered substances.
• It is difficult to copy the progression of the quality of milk and quantity of substances from colostrum to mature milk and from milk for a newborn vs. milk for a 12 month old. Colostrum is a thick, yellowish milk that is secreted by a woman's breast in the first several days after delivery. It has increased concentration of calcium, potassium, proteins, fat-soluble vitamins, minerals and antibodies. The volume is approximately 100 cc's (3 oz.) in a 24-hour period. Due to its high concentration of antibodies, this milk is particularly valuable for infants in preventing infection.

Brain Growth and Intellectual Development Factors

Multiple studies show that children who have been breastfed had significantly higher IQs even when other factors such as social class and mother's education level are controlled.

Immunologic & Antiallergenic Factors

Chemical analysis shows that breastmilk is rich in such defense factors as immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, enzymes, macrophages, lymphocytes and bifidus factor - all of these are NOT found in other mammalian milk. One of the great killers of infants, diarrhea, can be significantly reduced by the characteristics of the normal flora in an infant's intestines. The flora of the intestines of a breastfed infant is not conducive to the bacteria causing diarrhea. Breastfed infants have more lactobacilli and bifidobacteria which produce feces at a lower pH. This inhibits the growth of the bacteria causing diarrhea. One of the immunoglobins, IgA, is a protective antiabsorptive element that keeps protein from passing through the intestinal wall. Cows milk protein is one of the most common food allergens. Without the IgA, infants who are fed cows milk have more allergies than infants who are fed the virtually nonallergic human milk.

Additional factors to consider:

• Breastmilk is safer because it does not have to be mixed, measured or diluted.
• Breastmilk is always available, the right temperature and the right consistency
• Suckling at the breast promotes better mouth/jaw development
• Breastfeeding is less expensive
• There is more eye-to-eye contact between the mother and baby while breastfeeding

Let us also take a look at some of the disadvantages:

Social Considerations·

• Some fathers feel left out because they cannot feed the baby. (solution: have Dad participate in other areas of the infant's care. Babies are not like puppies ~ they don't bond best with whomever feeds them.)
• When out in public it may be more of a challenge to feed the baby. (solution: go into a fitting room at the department store to sit and feed the baby. Don't be seduced into thinking you must feed the baby in the restroom. How many people bring their burgers and fries into the bathroom to eat? Or you may inconspicuously place a nursing coverlet or receiving blanket over your chest while the baby nurses.)
  
  
  Physical Considerations
• Some women have past issues that make breastfeeding difficult. Also, mothers with some diseases or currently taking selected medications may be unable to breastfeed. Understand that this is OK and that either pumping and bottlefeeding or carefully preparing formula may be the best answer for you.

For additional information about breastfeeding advantages and disadvantages:

La Leche League International
Breastfeeding Basics
Bright Futures Lactation Resource Center
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Breastfeeding Pages
Healthy People 2010 Health Goals (USA)
Innocenti Declaration
Surgeon General's Office on Women's Health Blueprint for Action on Breastfeeding

References:
1. Bobak, I., Jensen, M. Maternity & Gynecologic Care: The Nurse and the Family. (1989) St. Louis: Mosby Publishers.
2. Nichols, F., Humenick, S. Childbirth Education: Practice, Research & Theory (2000) Saunders & Co.
3. Whitely, N. A Manual of Clinical Obstetrics (1985) Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company.
4. Reeder, S., Martin, L., and Koniak-Griffin, D. Maternity Nursing: Family, Newborn, and Women's Health Care. (1997) Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company.