As an expectant mother someone may have mentioned breastfeeding to you. This can be a touchy subject to some mothers considering adoption – I didn’t even want to think about it! But you may want to give it some thought, especially if you are leaning towards parenting. Whether or not to breastfeed is a personal decision, but one that you should educate yourself on. In this post, I will discuss breastfeeding in general and in the next post I will discuss it more specifically in the context of breastfeeding while making an adoption plan.

Many doctors consider breastfeeding better for a baby than bottle feeding as there are many benefits to breastfeeding. Even if you are only able to breastfeed for a short period of time, your baby will still benefit from it.

One practical benefit if you decide to parent is that breast feeding can save you money as you would not be buying a lot of formula, which is kind of expensive (or at least it was when Noah was a baby.) It also requires no preparation as formula does.

But there are also health benefits to breastfeeding.

• Breast milk is the most complete form of nutrition for a baby as it has just the right amount of everything that a baby needs and is all natural.



• Breast milk contains nutrients and antibodies that help build up a baby’s immune system causing breastfed babies to be less sick as a child than babies who are not breastfed.



• Breast fed babies are also less likely to have colic, upper respiratory infections, ear infections, constipation, asthma, and allergies.



• It’s often easier for a baby to digest breast milk as compared to formula.



• The first milk that comes in is called colostrum and it is very good for the baby and contains many antibodies to build up a newborn’s immature immune system so even if you only breastfed so your baby got the colostrum, he or she would still benefit.

For more information on breastfeeding, check out the following links:

• Tips for Breastfeeding



• Benefits of Breastfeeding



• How Breastfeeding Benefits You and Your Baby

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