BREAST FEEDING IS THE BEST FEEDING FOR BABY :-

Mother's milk is nature's gift to infants. Practically all mothers produce sufficient milk to meet the food requirements of the normal infant for first three months. There is really no condition where breast- feeding is contraindicated. By and large from the time of birth up to the age of 3 months breast milk alone is adequate for the needs of the growing baby.

COLOSTRUM IS VITAL :-

The thick yellowish breast milk, which is produced during the first 2-3 days after birth, is called colostrum. The colostrum contains less fat and lactose than mature milk and more Sodium, chloride and zinc. It is rich in antibody protein especially immunoglobulin A(IgA) and lactoferrin. It guards the infant against infection. Feeding of colostrum is wrongly believed to be unhygienic in certain communities, perhaps due to its yellowish colour. Such practices should be stopped as it deprives the infant of its natural resources of nutrients and antibodies.

FEEDING THE INFANT :-

Feeding on demand is recommended each time the baby is hungry. Duration of feeding varies from infant to infant and may range from 5-30 minutes and, or even more. The mother should be as comfortable as possible while breast feeding. She should ensure that the baby's nostrils are not obstructed by the breast.The mother should feed the baby at one breast till the milk is totally sucked and then if the baby is still hungry,the baby should be fed at the other breast.This ensures increased milk production and also the baby receives hindmilk which is rich in fat.

ADVANTAGES OF BREASTFEEDING :-

• Provides optimum nutrition required by the newborn.


• Provide anti-infective factors through breast milk especially colostrum.


• Safer due to reduced chance of infection as compared to artificial feeding.


• Involves close contact of mother with infant which facilitates bonding.


• Prevents neonatal health problems like hypoglycemia, allergies, diarrhea & malnutrition


• For mother it contributes to natural contraception and thus helps in child spacing.

COMPOSITION OF BREAST MILK COMPARED TO COW'S MILK (Per 100gm)

	HUMAN'S MILK	COW'S MILK		HUMAN'S MILK	COW'S MILK
Water (gm)	85.2	87.4	Sodium(mg)	16.0	50.0
Energy (kcal)	77.0	65.0	Potassium(mg)	51.0	144.0
Protein (gm)	1.1	3.5	Vitamin A(IU)	240.0	140.0
Fat (gm)	4.0	3.5	Thiamine (mg)	0.01	0.03
CHO (gm)	9.5	4.9	Riboflavin(mg)	0.04	0.17
Total ash (gm)	0.2	0.7	Niacin (mg)	0.2	0.1
Calcium (mg)	33.0	118.0	Ascorbic acid (mg)	5.0	1.0
Phosphorus(mg)	14.0	93.0

HUMAN'S MILK	COW'S MILK
60% of protein is lactalbumin and the remaining is casein .	15% of protein is lactalbumin and the remaining is casein.
It forms soft curds and is therefore easily digestible	It forms larger, tougher curds and therefore slowly digestible.
It has fats of long chain fatty acids	It has fats of short chain fatty acids which acts as irritants to the intestinal tract.
It has low contents of calcium, phosphorus,sodium and potassium but is easily absorbed	It has higher contents of calcium, phosphorus Na & K. Some healthy infants fed cow's milk have a syndrome of convulsion known as neonatal tetany about the sixth day of life. This is believed to be due to high blood phosphorus level
Ash content it three times less than in cow's milk.	Cow's milk has three times more ash content than in human milk & because of the lesser capacity of the infant's kidney to excrete wastes, the high ash content of cow's milk may prevent too high a solute load, which may cause diarrhoea
It can meet the infant's ascorbic acid requirements.	It cannot meet the infant's ascorbic acid requirement & hence needs to be supplemented.