BENEFITS OF BREASTFEEDING
Give your baby a healthy start

Making the choice as to how to feed your baby is an important decision – one that will have lifelong effects for you and your child. The experts at Texas Children’s Lactation Program believe breast milk is the best possible food for newborn babies.

More and more studies prove that breastfeeding gives newborn babies the best possible start toward a lifetime of good health. Breastfed babies have:

• Fewer ear infections
• Less risk of asthma, food allergies and dental cavities
• Protection against diarrhea and gastrointestinal and respiratory infections
• Enhanced nervous system development and higher IQ levels
• Less risk of some childhood cancers
• Possible protection against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Lower rate of childhood obesity
• Fewer food aversions when they’re older
• Appropriate jaw, teeth, facial and speech development

• Less risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer
• Lower chance of osteoporosis later in life
• Quicker return to pre-pregnancy weight levels
• A natural, healthy source of food for their babies, even during times of emergency when normal supplies of food and water might not be available
• Less chance of becoming pregnant before menstruation returns

Both mother and baby benefit because breastfeeding:

• Allows for deeper bonding between mother and baby due to the close skin-to-skin contact and maternal hormones released during feeding
• Saves time
• Saves money
• Is better for the planet because it requires no packaging or manufacturing and causes no waste