The advantages of breastfeeding

Reduced probability of breast and endometrium cancers.
The nursing mother is protected against osteoporosis.
The substitute milk formula is neutral food as the manufacturing process destroys living cells and antibodies.
Breastfeeding makes babies robust children and adolescents for the future world.
Highly digestible, breast milk is digested by the baby in 2-3 hours.
Children who are breastfed have lower frequency in developing cancer.
Breastfeeding fully meets the infant’s needs in nutrients and fluids.
Significantly fewer gastrointestinal disorders occur.

The food temperature is always right and stable.
Breastfeeding consists the best start of the child’s life and his/her unquestionable right.
During lactation less chances of an unwanted pregnancy occur.
Breast milk provides antibodies and immunization against major infectious diseases.
The process of breastfeeding promotes the emotional bonding between the mother and the baby.
Breastfeeding reduces the chances of allergies such as asthma and eczema.
Breastfeeding is economic and does not cost the family and the state.
Breastfeeding significantly increases the child’s IQ.

BREASTFEEDING WITHIN THE 1st HOUR OF CHILDBIRTH

The experienced and well qualified midwives of the delivery and operating rooms support the early initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour after childbirth. The newborn is placed upon his/her mother (making skin to skin contact) for at least an hour immediately after childbirth. The midwife then encourages the mother to recognize the signs indicating that the baby is ready to breastfeed and also provides counselling and psychological support.

Breastfeeding immediately after childbirth is a natural instinctive behavioural pattern that the newborn displays. The senses of smell, sight and taste help the newborn to locate the breast whereas the auditory stimuli and touch from the mother make the baby feel comfortable and safe. In the 2007 breastfeeding week, organized by W.A.B.A. (World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action), it was announced that one million lives could have been saved worldwide if mothers would have commenced breastfeeding their children within the first hour after childbirth.

THE BENEFITS OF INITIAL BREASTFEEDING

For the newborn

• Their mother’s body constitutes the best heat source for healthy full-term newborns. The temperature of the mother’s breast increases by 0.5°C, two minutes right after the newborn touches it.
• The mother’s embrace provides the best place as for the newborn to adapt from the internal environment of the womb to that of extra-uterine life. Researchers conclude that the genetically encoded reaction to separation from the mother is through crying and that the appropriate environment for a healthy neonate after birth is his /her mother's lap and skin to skin contact.
• Babies who are breastfed immediately after birth receive colostrum, their first natural vaccine. Early food intake by the baby stimulates peristalsis of the bowel, promoting the rapid elimination of meconium and thus preventing neonatal jaundice.
• In parallel, skin to skin contact promotes the colonization of the neonatal skin with safe germs of the bacterial flora of the mother’s skin, thus, helping to protect the infant from pathogenic bacteria that will be later encountered in the environment.
• The newborn’s heart-rate, blood sugar levels and breathing patterns are normal when in the arms of his/her mother.
• Early initiation of breastfeeding immediately after childbirth helps to quickly establish lactation. The earlier you start to breastfeed a baby, the faster they will learn to breastfeed properly and effectively. Thus achieving a reduction in the baby’s expected loss of weight.
• Finally, skin-to-skin contact and early initiation of breastfeeding are associated with high rates of exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of the baby’s life and longer duration of breastfeeding in the coming months. This leads to improved health for both the infant and the mother.

For the mother

• The massage the newborn performs with his/her hands on the breast and the touch of the baby’s lips on the nipple are responsible for the release of a large quantity of oxytocin (a hormone) from the pituitary gland of the mother. Due to the action of this hormone the contraction of the uterus and cadet are obtained. Simultaneously, the vessels of the uterine contract, reducing blood loss and in doing so preventing anaemia.
• The early initiation of breastfeeding boosts the mother's self-confidence and many of her fears about her meeting the requirements of her new role subside.
• Problems such as insufficient milk production, nipple pain due to poor breastfeeding techniques but also breast overload problems occurring during the third day, can all be prevented.
• Women who commence breastfeeding within the first hour after childbirth exhibited more prolonged breastfeeding periods for their children. The longer a mother breastfeeds, the greater the benefits for her are: reduction of the probability of breast and ovarian cancers, prevention of osteoporosis, etc.