There is no doubt that baby gets a lot of benefits from mom’s milk but some of them for the mom too. Some of them may include-
- The chances of breast cancer are reduced up to twenty five percent, if a mother feeds her baby with her own milk. This reduction in the chances of breast cancer is inversely proportional to the period of time a woman does breast feeding. This means that as the time period of breast feeding increases the chances of breast cancer decreases.
- Along with the breast cancer, chances of ovarian and uterine cancer are also less if a woman feeds her milk to a child. The levels of estrogen get low while lactation and thus, it avoids the chances of cancer.
- In the process of breast feeding hormones like prolactin and oxytocin are produced which provides a sense of natural soothing to the mother by promoting reduction in stress and this leads to a positive energy.
- Chances of catching disease like anemia are also reduced.
- Mothers gain a lot of weight during pregnancy but it is reduced quite well with the help of breast feeding as it burns near about 400 calories in a day.
Along with the above mentioned benefits it is also beneficial for a mother to understand about the needs and wants of the child.
How much of it should be provided to the little ones?
Providing accurate amount of breast milk to the babies is one of the most concerning thing for mothers. The amount of milk provided to an infant starts varying as he or she grows up; let’s talk about the first month. During the age of one month, the milk consumption by baby increases quite fast. A day old baby’s stomach is not bigger than a marble and its ability for stretching is also very less. Therefore, it could only intake one oz. of colostrum’s, which acts as immunity for the child and it is the richest milk form. At the age of five days, the stomach of baby expands now it may consume about ten to eleven oz. of breast milk in a day. After two or three weeks, a baby starts taking twenty to twenty five oz. of milk every day and the consumption of milk till the fourth month reaches up to twenty five to thirty oz. of milk. By a month daily intake of milk starts to vary and it lies in between nineteen to thirty oz. in a day.
