Breastfeeding doesn’t just benefit the baby, but the mum also gets just as many health advantages! Many people promote breastfeeding as the primary food source for all newborns because of several reasons. Among them is the fact that it poses benefits for the mum and the baby’s physical and emotional health. Below are five of the top health benefits of breastfeeding for mums:
1. Weight Loss
There will be times when breastfeeding will feel like exercise to mums and it’s because it is. A mum burns about 300 to 500 calories when breastfeeding.
Of course, many other factors come into play when losing weight after pregnancy. Some of which include your metabolism, daily calorie intake, exercise, and more. This is not to say that breastfeeding alone will make you lose weight. Rather, it’s another factor that can boost your weight loss journey after pregnancy.
2. Bonding
A mum and her baby have the most connection through breastfeeding. Aside from the physical connection that they have, certain hormones are being released when breastfeeding that increases maternal bond. For instance, hormones such as oxytocin promote bonding between the mother and her baby and these occur when she is breastfeeding.
3. Promotes Emotional Health
In line with the benefit mentioned above, breastfeeding promotes overall emotional health. Many mums experience postpartum psychiatric disorders, such as postpartum depression, which unfortunately trigger mental instability.
Luckily, with breastfeeding, the levels of anxiety and depression that they will experience are reduced. Because of their increased bond with their baby, symptoms of postpartum psychiatric disorders are lessened to an extent.
4. Long-Term Positive Health Effects
Of course, we can’t leave out the long-term positive health effects that breastfeeding offers mums. Breastfeeding does wonders to the overall well-being of a mother as it also prevents life-threatening diseases.
For one, women who lactate for around two years or more have been found to have fewer chances of getting breast cancer by 24%. Breastfeeding mums are also dodging more than one bullet. Some diseases that have fewer chances of developing include heart diseases, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.
5. Cost-Effective
Yes, breastfeeding will save you more money. For one, you would not have to worry about keeping stock of formula milk all the time. Moreover, it has been reported that breastfed babies have fewer visits to the paediatrician due to the wide array of health benefits that breastfeeding has provided them. This also means fewer expenses on medicine, prescriptions, and hospitalisations.
In A Nutshell…
The benefits of breastfeeding for mums pose more benefits than one might think. While babies get their much-needed nutrition from their mum, the mums in return receive a plethora of health benefits as well!
As a breastfeeding mum, how has the journey been so far for you? We’d love to hear your stories!
