You’ve been feeding Baby for months now with your placenta, but it’s been an automatic process. While your body can feed Baby without thinking during pregnancy, it’s a different story once they are born. You may not know yet if you’ll be breastfeeding, pumping, or using formula (or a combination), so here’s some information about a few of your options!
Breastfeeding
Whether they’re bigger, sore, itchy, leaky, or just different, breasts change over the course of pregnancy as the body’s natural way of preparing to produce milk and breastfeed Baby. When pregnant, your breasts produce the first milk, a thick, rich substance known as colostrum. Colostrum helps build up Baby‘s immune system and even helps them take their first poop! Colostrum will be replaced by thinner, more typical breast milk within a week of Baby‘s birth. This mature breast milk contains the right amounts of water, protein, and fat to help Baby grow big and strong and can also help protect them against many illnesses and challenges, including:
- Asthma
- Diarrhea
- Ear infections
Breastfeeding may also help prevent long-term disorders like diabetes, Crohn’s, and obesity, as well as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least 2 years or as long as mutually desired. There is no set timetable for when you should stop – it all depends on how comfortable you and Baby are.
Breast pumps
For those who still want their baby to drink their breast milk but do not wish to directly breastfeed or are having difficulty, there is always the option to use a breast pump to store nutrient-rich milk and feed it through a bottle. For many parents, a mix of pumping and direct breastfeeding is ideal for work flexibility and other periods of separation from Baby. It is also possible to feed baby pumped milk and only pumped milk. Exclusively pumping for Baby is a unique journey with so much to offer and explore!
Formulas
In the U.S., formula ingredients are strictly regulated. Any FDA-approved formula contains just what your baby needs to grow and thrive. The best formula is the one your baby digests well and takes easily! Some parents do want to read the ingredients and choose a formula that aligns with their values, and some babies will need support to find a tolerable formula for them.
Formula can come ready to feed (which is sterile and recommended for at-risk babies and all newborns) or powdered. Always make sure to follow the instructions on your formula fully to maximize safety. Formula should never be made at home, as it is likely to be missing key nutrients, and formula purchased internationally should be used with extreme caution. Counterfeit formula is a concern, as well as no notification practices for any recalled international brands.
Formula can always be used in addition to breastmilk when needed or desired, and combination feeding is a very popular choice. Read more about that here.
Read more
Sources
- C M Dogaru, D Nyffenegger, A M Pescatore, B D Spycher, C E Kuehni. “Breastfeeding and childhood asthma: systematic review and meta-analysis.” American Journal of Epidemiology. 179(10): 1153-1167.doi: 10.1093/aje/kwu072. Web. 4/11/2014.
- FR Hauck, J MD Thompson, K O Tanabe, R Y Moon, M M Vennemann. “Breastfeeding and Reduced Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: A Meta-analysis.” Pediatrics. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-3000. Web. 6/13/2011.
- AI Edelman. “Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk.” Pediatrics. Vol. 129 No. 3. Web. 3/1/2012.
- “What are the benefits of breastfeeding?” Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 12/9/2013. Web.
- Liesbeth Duijts, MD, PhD, Vincent W. V. Jaddoe, MD, PhD, Albert Hofman, MD, PhD, Henriëtte A. Moll, MD, PhDb. “Prolonged and Exclusive Breastfeeding Reduces the Risk of Infectious Diseases in Infancy.” Pediatrics. American Academy of Pediatrics, 6/21/2010. Web.
- “Infant formula: Your questions answered.” Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic, 1/19/2013. Web.
