Monday, March 03, 2008

Mother's Milk is Best

I have several friends who recently have had children. I was quite amazed that nowadays most hospitals and doctors actually recommend breastfeeding over feeding babies formula milk. It is said to be much healthier for the baby as mother's milk contains natural antibodies and vitamins that are essential for baby's health. These nutrients are somewhat different in formula milk despite the many advertisements advocating a whole host of all kinds of brain development food in formula milk. Many of my friends have chosen to feed their newborns with their own breast milk. Granted, it takes quite a lot of effort and several of them have told me of their frustrations when they initially did not have enough milk or when the baby did not know how to suck properly. Another friend who had a big baby said her baby often got frustrated because the milk flow was not fast enough for his hungry stomach. Some of them have resorted to using a baby feeding bottle instead so the flow is faster and their babies get full faster. They express their milk into the bottle then feed their babies with it. While this method has worked quite well for them, some doctors have also cautioned against this as the baby will no longer want to breastfeed due to the slower flow of milk. I guess ultimately, the choice of bottle feeding or not will be the mother's choice, with proper guidance from her doctor.

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