Breastfeeding

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Breastfeeding is when a mother feeds her babies with her breasts. The baby puts its mouth on to their mother's nipple and sucks the milk out. Another common way to breastfeed is using a breast pump. It is a machine used to pump the milk out of the breast so the child can eat it later.

Babies have a reflex to suck everything that is put in their mouth. Most babies do not need infant formula milk (powder milk) or solid food for six months or more, just breast milk.

Breast milk is the best food for babies. There are some exceptions: when the mother takes drugs or is infected with tuberculosis or AIDS. Breastfeeding makes babies healthy and makes cheaper feeding and health care. In both developing and developed countries, feeding powder milk leads to more deaths from diarrhoea. Experts agree that breastfeeding is the best food for a baby, but do not all agree about how long mothers should breastfeed, and about how safe powder milk is.