Breastfeeding is the time during which the baby feeds exclusively on the mother's milk. It is the best food that the baby can receive since it provides all the nutrients required for its development and growth.
In order to feed the newborn, the mother's breasts are prepared during pregnancy to produce milk. The woman must prepare to breastfeed her child, taking care of her nipples to strengthen them.
During the first few days of breastfeeding, a woman produces a thick, yellowish fluid called colostrum. Colostrum is a pre-milk substance that contains proteins, vitamins, mineral salts, leukocytes, and colostrum corpuscles. It has laxative properties and provides the baby with antibodies that immunize it against certain diseases.
From the fifth day of lactation, breast milk increases its concentration of fats and vitamins until it becomes mature milk, which occurs on the tenth day. This milk is not very transparent and bluish white in color, contains lactose, lactalbumin, vitamins and minerals, hormones and lipids.
Other advantages of breastfeeding is that it allows the mother to regain her hormonal balance, prevents breast cancer and provides emotional satisfaction to the mother and the baby.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. It will be maintained, introducing complementary feeding slowly and progressively from six months, until the mother decides to stop breastfeeding.
The nursing mother requires a balanced diet to ensure better milk. You must be careful of the consumption of drugs, alcohol, medications, and any substance, whose effects are not clear and known. There are cases where breastfeeding is not possible when the mother has disease AIDS, syphilis, herpes simplex, or is receiving chemotherapy, etc. In this case, artificial feeding (artificial milk) is recommended.
