Advantages of Breastfeeding vs Bottle Feeding

The advantages of breastfeeding vs bottle feeding are numerous. Here we will go into more depth on a few.

Nutrition

Breastmilk is the perfect food for baby. It includes everything your baby needs for the first 6-9 months of life. Breastmilk changes in composition as baby grows. Mothers have been breastfeeding their babies for millions of years. Breastmilk has spent millions of year in development to ensure its perfection.

Formula is a product that has been developed to meet the needs of the largest number of babies based on our current understanding of what babies need. Over the years, the composition of formula has changed when deficiencies are discovered. Formula manufactures worry about profit margins, and storability just as much as they worry about making sure that formula. Formula has been manufactured for just under a hundred years. It is unlikely that formula will ever be as nutritious for baby as breastmilk.

Constipation and Intestinal Development

Breast milk is a live fluid. It has not been pasteurized, a process that removes important enzymes and immune factors and lowers the amount of available nutrition. Breast milk has been perfected over millions of years of evolution. If you don’t believe in evolution, they you should consider that breast milk is God’s gift to both mothers and their babies. Breastfed babies are rarely constipated.

Formula is based on either cow’s milk or soy, both of which have been converted to a powder at high temperature. Baby’s immature intestinal tract is not able to assimilate many of the ingredients in formula. These ingredients sit in the digestive tract and ferment, causing constipation, gas and result in smelly poop.

Advantages of Breastfeeding vs Bottle Feeding (continued)

Smell

Having developed over millions of years to provide the best possible nutrition for baby, breastmilk is easily digested by baby. This means that breast milk baby poop is a mustard color and has very little smell. Breastmilk poop rarely causes diaper rash. Babies that are breastfed smell better in general due to having less gas and much better smelling poop.

Formula is not live. It is not easily digested by baby. As a result baby’s poop smells similar to adult poop. In general baby smells more because of gas and smelly poops.

Diaper Rash

Breast fed babies rarely have diaper rash until after certain solids are introduced. Citrus is known to cause diaper rash in some babies.

Formula fed babies often have diaper rash if their stool is left touching their skin for any length of time.

Portability, Spontaneity and Ease of Travel

Breastfed babies only require their mother, a change of clothes and a few diapers for an outing. Breast milk is always available, properly mixed and heated.

Bottle fed babies require more planning. In addition to a change of clothes and a few diapers, formula, bottles, heating and cleaning need to be worked out. If you forget something you can be in real trouble. You are less able to be spontaneous.

Health

Breastfed babies continually receive immune properties from their mother’s breastmilk. Breastfed babies are sick less and recover faster. Breastfed babies have fewer ear infections. Fewer breastfed babies die of SIDS.

Bottle fed babies receive no immune properties from formula. As their immune system matures over the first two years of life, bottle fed babies have to acquire the ability to fight infections on their own. For this reason bottle fed babies are sick more often, experience more hospital stays and die of SIDS more often than breastfed babies.

Intelligence

Breastfed babies have higher IQ’s than bottle fed babies. Depending on the study, the increase in IQ ranges from 5 points to 10 points on average.

Formula does not include cholesterol, an important component for brain development. This may be the reason that bottle fed babies have lower IQ’s than breastfed babies.

Cost

Breast milk is free and always heated to the correct temperature.

Formula must be purchased along with bottles. There is also a cleaning cost.

Advantages of Breastfeeding vs Bottle Feeding (continued)

Convenience for Working Mothers

Breastfed babies require mother to pump milk while they are away at work. If this is not possible then their mother needs to keep a middle of the night feeding so that she is either nursing or expressing milk a minimum of six times a day. Nursing babies are sick less often than formula fed babies.

Bottle fed babies do not depend on their mother for nutrition. Someone else can do the purchasing, preparation, feeding and cleaning that bottle feeding requires. Formula fed babies are sick more often, resulting in more sick days for mother.

Mother’s Health

Mothers that breastfeed their babies have less chance of getting breast cancer.

Mothers that bottle feed their babies have a greater chance of getting breast cancer.

More Great Information about Breastfeeding

• Why You Should Breastfeed Your Baby
• Great Tips from an Experienced Working Mom
• Breastfeeding in Public
• Breastfeeding vs. Bottle Feeding
• Working and Breastfeeding Made Easy
• How To Express Breast Milk During a Business Trip
• Breastfeeding with Implants
• Breastfeeding Toddlers and Older Children
• Breastfeeding While Pregnant
• When to Wean
• How to Wean
• Breastfeeding Forum

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