Breastfeeding can be a wonderful experience, but it is not without challenges. While many parents end up in the chest or breastfeeding or pumping for several months or more, others are breastfeeding only a few weeks because of breastfeeding difficulties, having to go back to work or simply feeling breastfed was not the best choice after all.
Here is the good news: there are advantages to breastfeed for a few weeks. Yes, even two weeks of breastfeeding have advantages. Remember that breastfeeding is all about what works for you and your baby, and everyone’s breastfeeding journey is different.
Let’s take a closer look at the advantages of breastfeeding for a few weeks, a few months and more.
1. It offers excellent nutrition to your baby
Between the 12th and 16th weeks of pregnancy, your breasts are starting to produce a sticky and yellowish substance called Colostrum, which will be the first milk your baby receives during the first days of life, before your mature milk is Statpearls.
Colostrum has more protein and less fat and carbohydrates than your mature milk Statpearls. Although the colostrum is lower in volume than mature milk, that’s exactly what your baby needs nutrition, and it is easy for babies to digest.
2. Breastfeeding supports your baby’s intestinal health
Colostrum is not only an excellent source of nutrition, it is also favorable to your baby’s intestinal health. It is full of vitamins (in particular A, B12 and K, according to research in May 2018 Nutrients) and a substance called Oligosaccharides of breast milk (HMOS), explains Andrea Braden, MD, IBCLC, an Ob-Gyn, specialist in breastfeeding and CEO and co-founder of the Brass Lybbie Brand.
Together, the vitamins and the HMOs “teach the baby’s intestine how to populate with bacteria to fight against infections”, explains Dr. Braden. “Giving the baby breast milk very early is like giving a prebiotic.”
3. It strengthens your baby’s immune system
Colostrum also helps protect babies from the circulation of Icky germs – the germs to which they have not yet been exposed or vaccinated in the first weeks of life.
“Colostrum has high concentrations of compounds such as secretory IGAs, lactoferrine and oligosaccharides that amortize the infant immune system to ensure protection against a variety of diseases,” explains Megan Oggero, APRN, IBCLC, lactation consultant and family practitioner in Uthealth Houston.
4. Breastfeeding helps restore your uterus to the size of the pre-prostess
During breastfeeding, your body releases a hormone called oxytocin, which helps your milk channels contract so that milk is released from your breasts. But it also does a few other things, including the contraction of your uterus, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Many parents notice uterine cramps at the start of breastfeeding. It’s a good thing, said Dr. Braden. “Oxytocin helps not only breastfeeding, but it actually helps to contract the uterus to reduce hemorrhage after childbirth,” she said.
These contractions also help your uterus to decrease in size, it will therefore return more effectively to its size before pregnancy, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
5. It promotes the link
Breastfeeding is not the only way to create links with your baby, but for many parents, it can help, says Oggero.
Hormonal oxytocin is a great actor with regard to this link, she says, part of the reason why it is often described as “the love hormone”.
When oxytocin is released during breastfeeding, it creates feelings of calm and can reduce stress, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This can also stimulate the feelings of love and affection between breastfeeding parents and their little ones.
6. Breastfeeding for 2 weeks establishes your milk supply
If you hope to breastfeed in the long term, breastfeeding during these first weeks will pay on the road. “Early breastfeeding is really important to develop your milk supply,” said Dr. Braden.
You will want to breastfeed your baby frequently during these first weeks of life, as it helps to set up the supply of the supply and breastfeeding, she explains.
“The baby really puts the rhythm that your body must do to feed [them] By sending signals to the parent, “said Dr. Braden.” Whenever your baby sucks – whenever they come out from breast milk – your body gets a signal to make more milk and replace this. “”
7. It gives you skin time to skin
Breastfeeding in these first weeks means that you will spend many hours in close contact, skin with skin, which has many advantages.
“Skin-to skin [contact] And early breastfeeding helps regulate the heart rate, temperature and blood sugar of the baby, “said Dr. Braden. This can also help babies go from the safe and calm world to the new noisy and more chaotic world in which they are now.
Of course, you don’t have to breastfeed to get the advantages of skin time to skin. And you don’t have to be the only one to do so. Partners, grandparents – even younger brothers and sisters – can spend skin time to skin with new babies.
The advantages of breastfeeding beyond 2 weeks
Breastfeeding for any time is good for babies, but the advantages continue as long as you feed your baby.
Most of the main health organizations recommend breastfeeding exclusively for about six months and continuing for a year or more, even once you have introduced solid foods, according to the centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding “as long as mutually” by a breastfeeding parent and their child, and breastfeeding for two years – or even more – is healthy.
Breast milk can provide babies with all the nutrients they need for their first months of life and continue to provide part of their nutrition during the second year of life, according to the World Health Organization.
If you choose to continue after the first weeks of breastfeeding, your baby will also benefit from the advantages of the immune system, says Oggero. “When parents are exposed to viruses and bacteria, they start to produce antibodies, and these antibodies are transmitted to the child through breast milk,” she explains. “They reduce the risk of infection in infants and reduce the seriousness of the disease if this happens.”
According to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Human, plus
Continue breastfeeding beyond the first weeks also offers benefits for the breastfed parent. “For parents, the longer durations of breastfeeding provide gradually greater reductions in the risk of breast and ovary and diabetes type 2 cancer,” explains Oggero, as well as heart disease, according to a February 2023 article in February 2023 in February 2023 in February 2023 Cancer medicine.
Advice for the success of breastfeeding
Everyone has different breastfeeding goals. Even if your goal is to breastfeed for several months or more, you could find it difficult. This is normal and you are far from being alone; It is important to be nice to yourself during breastfeeding.
Nicole Peluso, IBCLC, lactation consultant and director of lactation and education services at the Aeroflow Healthcare medical devices, offered her best advice to increase the chances of breastfeeding:
- Try to learn as much as possible on breastfeeding before your baby arrives from your doctor and / or credible websites and books.
- Remember to take a breastfeeding or go to a breastfeeding support group when you are pregnant.
- Try to get some lactation specialists names you can call after your baby’s birth.
- Take advantage of “the golden hour” after birth and allow the natural collage process to take place with your baby, with a minimum interference of the others if possible.
- Get help hang immediately; If there are problems, this will ensure adequate milk elimination for your baby and the stimulation / establishment of the breast of your milk supply.
- Ask for help before breastfeeding hurts, and before your nipples bleed or crack.
- Remember to join a breastfeeding support group to meet other parents who are on the same trip as you.
Keep in mind also that breastfeeding will not always look like breastfeeding, with your breastfeeding baby. Breastfeeding has advantages even if you pump your milk exclusively, and even if you feed your baby with a combination of formulas and breast milk. Regarding breastfeeding, you can define your own success.
