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By Dr. Fatin Tamim
Published on Invalid Date
9 minutes read
Breastfeeding is widely acknowledged as the ideal method of providing optimal infant nutrition. Breastmilk is the most complete food for babies and, it provides them with all the nutrients needed for the first 6 months of their life. Therefore, not breastfeeding is associated with health risks to the baby and the mother as well.
No, of course not. No formula in the world is even close to the mother’s breast milk. The resemblance is only superficial. We really don’t know exactly what goes in breast milk; since it varies according to numerous factors. Therefore we can’t really standardize breast milk. Companies producing formula milk market their products by offering special types for different babies using the notion that not all babies need exactly the same kind of nutrition. All milk companies also try to convince their customers that their formula is virtually the same as breast milk, only different and better than the other competitive types who also suggest that their product is the same as breast milk.
Not breastfeeding puts mothers and babies at risk, since health outcomes differ substantially for mothers and babies when using formula feeding compared to those who choose breastfeeding.
Colostrum, which is the baby’s “first immunization” is a thick, yellowish fluid that is produced during pregnancy and up to 2-4 days after delivery. It provides the baby with the optimal nutrients: it is high in Sodium, Potassium, Chlorine, protein, fat-soluble vitamins, minerals and omega 3 as well as immunological substances.
while formula milk costs you its price in addition to the price of bottles, sterilization equipment, clean water, a bottle warmer, in addition to the physician fees when the baby gets sick frequently due to high exposure to microbes while having lower immunity.
Breast milk is flavored according to your food intake, and this makes it easier for the baby to accept solid food and start eating it efficiently, since he is used to the taste.
Breast milk contains the nutritional components in the right proportion that enhance digestion and absorption and meets baby’s nutritional needs, while formula contains synthetic nutritional components in proportions that can lead to indigestion and poor absorption, in addition to that; important factors, such as hormones and enzymes necessary for absorption and utilization are also absent.
which is important for brain development, while formula is high in saturated fat which has harmful effects on the baby’s health, such as obesity and the risk of acquiring chronic diseases later in life.
This makes it easier for the baby to accept solid food and start eating it efficiently, since he is used to the taste. One the other hand, formula has the same taste all the time which makes it hard for the baby to accept solid food since he will always compare it to the taste of formula milk.
such as ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, osteoporosis, iron deficiency, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and delayed involution of the uterus.
Breast milk is sterile while formula exposes the baby to several pathogens along the way of production, preparation and feeding.
Discussing the benefits of breastfeeding may give the idea that the health of mothers and their babies won’t be negatively affected by the use of formula feeding, and that breastfeeding has only extra health benefits, where the reality is that not breastfeeding puts mothers and babies at risk, since health outcomes differ substantially for mothers and babies when using formula feeding compared to those who choose breastfeeding.
Science and research is still making new discoveries related to the components and benefits of breast milk!
Breast milk |
Formula feeding |
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Enhance immunity |
High sugar exposure |
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Better IQ levels for the child |
High exposure to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) |
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Bonding between the mother and the child |
Synthetic nutritional factors |
Breastfeeding can help prevent maternal diseases such as ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, breast cancer, osteoporosis, iron deficiency, type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease
If the baby is breast fed, Iron stores in his body will decline by the 6th month of age. this is considered to be an adaptive mechanism to minimize iron availability to the microbes that happen to be highly available when starting solid foods at this age. These microbes usually require iron for growth and through the natural reduction of the baby’s iron stores around the time he starts solid foods, the frequency and severity of infection decreases. On the other hand, if the baby is fed through formula that contains through manufacturing high levels of iron, this iron will not be digested or eliminated, but will be stored in the baby’s body to be found by the microbes. This in its turn will increase the possibility and severity of disease.
All babies need vitamin D, and breastfed babies get vitamin D from their mothers through breast milk. Formula milk companies claim that vitamin D needs to be added to make sure that the child is getting enough, and that’s not true. The only case in which the child doesn’t get enough vitamin D is if the mother has vitamin D deficiency, and this problem can be solved when the mother takes vitamin D supplements.
It was evident that some supplements of baby formula interfere with the development of a good bacteria in the gut, that are believed to contribute to regulating nutrition, intestinal growth and development, protection from microbes, and development of the immune response.
Fatin Tamim is a wife and mother of three children, who spent life hard-working, studying, and participating in raising community health awareness and related activities. She is a Ph.D. candidate, nutritionist, public health specialist, and maternal and child health specialist. She is the first specialized Lactation Consultant working in a private lactation consultation clinic in Jordan. Most of her clinical experience (1991-2007) was at Ministry of Health, Jordan, as a trainer and coordinator of breastfeeding counseling & management program as well as in Baby Friendly Hospital Initiation program and accreditation at a pediatric hospital, medical educator and coordinator, nurse-midwife supervisor, nurse-midwife of a primary health care centers, and nurse-midwife in emergency, medical, surgical, neonatal, labor and delivery units in
governmental hospitals. Interested in and assisted in several research studies done by researchers at Jordan University of Science & Technology. She was a research assistant in a randomized clinical trial study titled by "Maternal Nutrition during Labor", published in Jordan Medical Journal, 2007. Additional to research experiences, she had performed a case-control study titled by “A comparison between the effects of different patterns of maternal nutrition during labor on labor and birth outcomes”. She loves babies and interested in supporting mamas, helping them, managing their health issues step by step, considering the members of her family
