Nursing Baby

Nursing Baby
The best protection and nourishment a mother can give her newborn is to nurse her baby. Many doctors now encourage mothers to nurse their babies, pointing out that mothers milk contains up to six times as much vitamin E as cow’s milk and almost twice as much as selenium.

The first few days are important for breastfeeding. The mother secretes a clear yellow liquid, called colostrum which is high in protein and certain vitamins and minerals and lower in milk, sugar and fat.

Colostrum contains antibodies that protect the baby from infections that you will never find in a commercial formula.

Colostrum protects against some of the most dangerous bacteria such as E. coli which accounts for about 80 percent of cases of meningitis of the newborn.

It protects against allergies, Breast fed infants have one half the incidence of inner ear infections, and one fifth the incidence of respiratory infections, and two and one half times less digestive upsets than bottle fed babies.

Breasts milk can provide most of the baby’s nutritional requirements during the first year of life.

Even though solid foods are introduced around six months they cannot provide sufficient amounts to satisfy nutrient needs.

The protein in mother’s milk contains all the right amino acids, and is easier to digest. The iron in mother’s milk is absorbed readily into body.
Nursing Baby