Breastfeeding is so much more than nutrition. Not only does it lead to a cherished relationship with your breastfeeding baby, there are lifelong benefits.

Breastmilk can begin a lifetime of good health:

 
  • Less chance of asthma and diabetes
  • Fewer allergies
  • Fewer skin problems, including dermatitis and eczema
  • Lower risk of heart attacks and strokes due to lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels
  • Reduced chance of ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease
  • Protection from certain chronic liver diseases
  • Higher IQs (average of 8-10 points higher)
  • Three times less ear infections
  • Five times less urinary tract infections
  • Twenty-five times less chance of SIDS
  • Less diarrhea and constipation
  • Less chance of lymphoma and childhood cancers
  • Breastfed babies grow up to be leaner
  • Mother’s milk is especially designed for a preemie – its nutrition and digestibility is actually different than that of the mother of a term baby!
  
  • Mothers lose weight faster
  • Mother’s experience less blood loss 
  • Breastfeeding mothers have a smoother adjustment to hormonal changes following birth, decreasing the chance for postpartum depression.
  • Two years of breastfeeding lowers the risk of breast cancer before menopause by 50%
  • Seven years or more of cumulative breastfeeding lowers the risk for breast cancer throughout a woman’s lifetime
  • Breastfeeding provides protection from ovarian cancer, osteoporosis and endometrial cancer
  • One month of breastfeeding lowers the rates of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol
  • New research has shown breastfeeding for one or more years helps protect mothers from heart attacks and strokes.  Breastfeeding is heart healthy.