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Benefits of Breastfeeding

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Submitted By vgulati
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Viresh Gulati - Diary Entry
BEHS 343 Section 6381
You are expecting your first child and are interested in breastfeeding your baby. You would also like to return to work relatively soon. You have to decide how valuable breastfeeding is and whether you can work and breastfeed.
The scenario is not true for me in real life since I have three kids, but was a concern when we were having our first child 14 years ago.

June 7, 2015
We are expecting our first child! This is a very exciting and happy time of our lives and we can hardly wait to hold our little bundle of joy. But there is a lot to prepare and plan before the arrival of our baby. We have to paint and decorate the baby’s room, register for the baby shower and outline a plan of who will be taking care of the baby when we are back at work. And thinking of going back to work brings a very significant question to mind - are we going to breastfeed the baby or use formula? In my class “Parenting Today” I have read that breastfeeding an infant has a lot of health advantages. It helps protect babies against infectious diseases by strengthening their immune system.
The advantages of breastfeeding are numerous, both for the baby as well as for the mother. Studies have shown that breastfeeding promotes the development of mother-child relationship. Research has proved that breastfed babies have healthier immune systems to fight infections; they are less likely to develop childhood obesity and the problems associated with it; they are less likely to have allergies; and they have an increased chance of being healthier adults as compared to formula-fed babies.
Although my wife and I are doing a lot of research on this issue, the fact remains that we do have to go back to work relatively soon and the one most important thing that we have to keep in mind is the feasibility of pumping and storing breastmilk at work.

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