Breastfeeding: Benefits for Baby and Mother

Benefits for your baby

Breastfeeding offers many benefits to your baby.

• Nutrition: breast milk has the right balance of nutrients to help your infant grow into a strong, healthy toddler.
• Protection: some of its nutrients help protect against some common childhood illnesses and infections.

Benefits for you

Breastfeeding may also help your health: certain types of cancer may occur less often in mothers who have breastfed.

How long

Women without health problems should try to give their babies breast milk for at least the first six months of life.

When to check first

• Health problems: most women with health problems can breastfeed. In rare cases, women with certain illnesses are advised not to.
• What passes into milk: some medicines, illegal drugs and alcohol can pass into breast milk and harm your baby.

Ask your health care provider if you're unsure whether you should breastfeed, and contact a lactation consultant if you're having problems breastfeeding.

Sources

Based on "Breastfeeding," MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine, drawing on the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; a work of the United States government in the public domain.