Breastfeeding and Bottle Feeding
Both breastfeeding and bottle feeding have distinct advantages and disadvantages that the current or future parents and healthcare specialists should be aware of to ensure baby safety and high nurturing quality. Although parents are free to choose any of the options according to their needs, the researchers usually suggest that breastfeeding should be prioritized at the early stages over bottle feeding. For instance, the American Academy of Pediatrics insists that mothers should nurse their babies until they later reach at least 12 months of age. In a similar vein, World Health Organization strongly advocates for necessary breastfeeding during the first two years of infants’ lives. Despite that, it is still important to discuss the pros and cons of both baby feeding methods separately.
Breastfeeding
The advantages of breastfeeding can be viewed from two angles, namely from the baby’s perspective and from the perspective of a mother. The former includes the following:
- Breast milk has all the nutrients necessary for an infant’s normal development, such as proteins which account for around 75%, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals;
- It is believed that women’s bodies are able to receive necessary information concerning nutrients that their children lack through saliva. As a result, the breast milk’s content can adapt to the needs of the baby and, thus, ensures the infant’s better and healthier development;
- Breastfed children are less likely to have problems with digestion;
- Breastfeeding is associated with the lower risk of sudden infant death syndrome;
- Breastfed babies have stronger immune systems than bottle-fed children and, thus, are more protected from various types of viruses such as ear, lung, and urinary tract infections, to name a few. In this regard, some researches indicate that the risk of hospitalization during the first year of a child’s life reduces by 72%.
At the same time, mothers also enjoy certain benefits from personally nursing their children as it helps to:
- Increase the emotional connection with the baby;
- Recover uterus to the size that it had before pregnancy faster;
- Increase the production of good hormones such as oxytocin (love hormone which promotes human bonding);
- Reduce the chance of experiencing postpartum depression;
- Reduce the risk of other diseases occurrence, including breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular issues.
On the other hand, there are also some adverse consequences of breastfeeding. First of all, it can take several days to a few weeks for the body to adjust for nursing purposes. For instance, women can feel pain, have their nipples cracked, and experience a shortage of milk supply. Also, breastfeeding requires a woman to lead a healthy lifestyle and avoid consuming alcohol or coffee, taking certain medicines, and smoking. Finally, due to the high frequency of breastfeeding sessions, women should be around their children most of the time.
Bottle Feeding
Now it is necessary to discuss the advantages and drawbacks of bottle feeding. Generally, the pros of this method are the following:
- Anyone can be involved in the feeding process, including the woman’s partner, the infant’s grandparents, and older siblings. That significantly reduces children’s dependency on the mother and helps other family members to bond more with the baby;
- Mother’s health-related problems and bad dietary (for instance, alcohol and/or drug abuse) and behavioral (smoking) habits do not affect the child;
- There is no need to worry about a low supply of milk;
- It is more convenient to feed the baby in public places, especially for mothers who feel uncomfortable breastfeeding around other people.
On the contrary, the disadvantages of bottle feeding are:
- Less nutrition in comparison with breastfeeding as well as reduced flexibility to the needs of the baby;
- Lower levels of mother-child emotional connection;
- Added expenses due to the need to purchase special equipment and infant formula;
- Additional efforts and time to prepare milk. However, the responsibility for preparation and feeding can be shared among family members;
- Significantly fewer health benefits for babies and their mothers.