Human Milk is So Amazing; Here’s Why!

Human milk is made especially by your body, mom, for your precious baby. Let’s review just how wonderful this liquid gold truly is for mom, baby, and the community. 

Benefits to Your Baby

1. Fewer in ear infections: Baby consuming any human milk reduces their infection risk by 23%; breastfeed baby exclusively for 6 months and reduce their risk by 77%
2. Reduced Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) risk: Nursing your baby for at least a month or more reduces SIDS risks by 50%
3. Boosted bonding with baby
4. Reduced risk of asthma if you feed breastmilk to baby for more than 4 months; asthma risks are reduced by 40% in infants with a family history of asthma
5. Lower incidence of obesity
6. Fewer allergies
7. Lower risk of heart, celiac, and childhood inflammatory bowel diseases, and even atopic dermatitis
8. Lower risk of childhood leukemia
9. Increased cognition: Higher intelligence scores are observed among children who were fed human milk as infants for more than 3 months
10. Human-milk-fed preterm infants have fewer hospital admissions in their first 3 years
11. Exclusively feeding human milk for more than 6 months reduces upper respiratory infections by 63%
12. Feeding your baby human milk for more than 4 months reduces their risk of RSV bronchiolitis by 74%
13. Exclusive human milk for 3 months+ reduces type 1 diabetes risks by 30%
14. Any amount of human milk feeding for baby reduces their risk of Type
15. 2 diabetes by 40% Human milk helps prevent obesity:

• Feeding your baby human milk reduces the risk of obesity by 24%
• Any amount of human milk in infancy compared with none reduces adolescence and adult obesity by 15-30%
• Exclusive human milk feeding for 3 months protects against preschool obesity

16. Serious colds, ear, and throat infections are reduced by 63% in infants who are exclusively breastfed for 6 months
17. The risk of developing celiac disease in infants who were fed human milk is reduced by 52%
18. Feeding lowers rates of sepsis, reduces hospital readmissions after birth, lowers incidences of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), and boosts brainstem development

Benefits of Nursing for Mom

19. Reduced risks of reproductive, breast, and ovarian cancers when nursing for a year or more. Each year of breastfeeding continues to decrease breast cancer risks by 4%
20. Breastfeeding your baby lowers your blood sugar by extracting the glucose to make lactose in your baby’s milk—how cool is that
21. Drop that baby weight as you burn a large number of calories each day making milk!
22. Feel relaxed as your body secretes oxytocin—the feel-good hormone—what also helps you get a flat tummy again 23.
23. Nursing more than one baby reduces your risks of osteoporosis and hip fracture by 50%
24. Breastfeeding for a longer period of time reduces your risks of rheumatoid arthritis
25. Nursing baby at birth decreases postpartum bleeding and helps shrink your uterus back to its normal size
26. Breastfeeding reduces incidences of postpartum depression
27. Breastfeeding is easy—it’s always ready, and at the right temperature for your baby every time!
28. Creates a love connection with your baby, rewarding you with that oxytocin surge
29. Strengthen a lifetime bond between you and your baby
30. Decreased postpartum bleeding and more rapid uterine involution
31. Decreased incidence of postpartum depression
32. More rewarding for you and your baby Community Benefits
33. Save $13 billion if 90% of new mothers nursed their babies exclusively for 6 months—those savings come from fewer hospital admissions or stays related to sepsis, NEC or readmissions
34. Protect later life health with reduced risks of myocardial infarction, hypertension, and breast cancer, saving and estimated $860 million as a result of improved health
35. Breastfeeding is inexpensive: no bottles or other equipment is required, reducing the environmental trash burden
36. Workplace productivity is boosted by fewer parental absences from work

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