The first six months of a baby's life offers unique opportunities for building lasting bonds between the mother and her child. And that bond takes its roots from nursing the child.
If you are the mother, it is always best for both of you to nourish your baby with your own breast milk. Mother's milk has no substitute for the baby's complete nutrition. It contains all the nutrients your newborn baby needs, as well as hormones and anti-biotics that no processed food formula can either match or offer.
Mother's milk is also constituted in such as way that it responds to the specific needs of the baby as he or she progresses in mental and physical development. Its nutritional makeup induces rapid brain development to ensure that the rest of the baby's body systems dependent on signals from the brain would function as they should. Its disease-fighting compounds ward off viral infections when the baby becomes increasingly exposed to the elements.
Nursing the child with your breast milk also builds a unique association between you and your baby. The newborn child is hardly conscious of anything except on his or her need for basic comfort and nourishment. Your touch, therefore, which your baby feels every time he or she breastfeeds, should mean the whole world to him or her.
Aside from the unquantifiable benefits it gives to your baby, breastfeeding can also be a fulfilling experience for you. You may find it an awkward, frustrating and even annoying, task at the beginning, but as you gain more experience as a nursing mother, you will be rewarded with a deep sense of satisfaction on seeing your baby happy, full of life and in the pink of health. Nursing him or her beyond the first six months will then become a relative breeze for both of you.
But first, consider a few things when you breastfeed. Breastfeeding takes time and in no occasion should it be rushed. It is therefore important that both of you should feel comfortable with the surrounding, location, or environment you are in. One that is relatively quiet and free of distractions is recommended.
Put yourselves in a position where your arms or back will not get sore, such as by supporting the back of your baby's head with your hand while keeping some soft clothing or pillow handy. Either you tilt your body in a reclining position with sufficient body support or sit erect on a couch, bed or chair. When your baby suckles, watch the sensation around your breast. Your baby's lips should fully cover the areola and your nipple should be pressed deep between the baby's tongue and the upper inside portion of the baby's mouth.
In any event the purpose is to make yourselves comfortable--something which moms always know best, given the insights she develops with practice and experience.
On top of all the nutritional benefits the baby can possibly enjoy, breastfeeding gets the mother and child ever closer to each other. The bonding it brings will endure for the rest of their lives.
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