How long can you breastfeed ?

If you breastfeed your baby for simply a couple of days, he/she will receive your foremilk, or early milk. By providing certain anti-infective factors like antibodies and other types of food the baby’s brand new body expects, breastfeeding provides your baby his/her initial and best ‘immunization’. It also helps in getting the baby’s system to operate in a seamless way. It additionally helps your own body recover from post-pregnancy pain. Given how little it takes to offer it, and how much your baby stands to gain, it makes good sense to breastfeed for at least a day or two, even if you plan to bottle-feed after that.

·     If you breastfeed your baby for 4–6 weeks, you will have eased him/her through the foremost vital part of his infancy. Newborns who do not seem to be breastfed are way more seemingly to get sick or be hospitalized, and have an increased risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) than breastfed babies, explain health practitioners at AMRI Hospitals, one of the best maternity hospital in Kolkata. After 4-6 weeks, you'll probably have worked through any early breastfeeding issues, too. Build a significant goal of breastfeeding for a month and seek advice from a qualified breastfeeding expert, if you have got any queries. These will help you to be in an exceedingly higher position to make your mind up whether continuing breastfeeding is ideal for you or not.

·       If you breastfeed your baby for 3-4 months, his/her digestive system will have matured a great deal, and he/she will be ready in a far better way to tolerate the foreign substances. Giving nothing but your breast milk to the baby for the first six months will help to safeguard the baby against various types of infections.

·     If you breastfeed your baby for 6 months without any other food or drink, you will help in ensuring good health throughout your baby's initial years of life, reduce the little one's risk of infections, and cut back on your own risk of breast cancer. Exclusive breastfeeding throughout the first six months, if your periods are yet to come back, provides 98 effective contraceptive methods. The World Health Organization and other well-known medical organizations suggest waiting for a minimum of six months before starting on solid foods.

·   If you breastfeed your baby for nine months, you will have nourished him/her for his/her quickest and most vital brain and body development on the food that was designed for the baby — your milk. Weaning could also be fairly natural at this age but then, so is breastfeeding! If you wish to avoid weaning this early, make sure that, from the beginning you breastfeed willingly so that your child is comforted and not simply fed.

·    If you breastfeed your baby for one year, you will be able to avoid the expense of feeding formula to your child, when it is a fact that your baby’s one-year-old body will be able to handle most of foods consumed by your family on a normal basis. Breastfeeding will give your kid several health benefits, which will last throughout one’s whole life, suggest doctors at AMRI Hospitals, best child care hospital in Kolkata. He/she is going to be less likely to want treatment and have a reduced risk of some childhood cancers like leukemia. Experts recommend breastfeeding for a year, or for as long as a mother and baby needs. As a result of this, it helps ensure the traditional nutrition and health for your baby.

·        If you breastfed your baby for 18 months, you may have continued to supply nutrition, comfort, and sickness protection for your baby, at a time when illness is very common in weaning babies. Your baby is perhaps well established on family foods, too. He/she has had time to create a solid bond with you, which is a healthy start line for his/her growing independence, too. At 18 months, the baby is of the right age when you can begin weaning him/her off breast milk, but at a pace that the baby can handle.

 In cultures where there's no pressure to wean, youngsters tend to feed for a minimum of two years, the World Health Organization and UNICEF strongly encourage breastfeeding throughout a baby’s days of being a toddler: Biologically human beings seem geared to of weaning age he age of 30 months and seven years. It is smart to make our children’s bones from the milk that was designed for them. Your milk provides nutrients, anti-infective factors and different protecting substances as long as your kid continues breastfeeding. 

The World Health Organization says that mothers who feed their babies for a relatively longer time have a lower risk of developing breast cancer. Breastfeeding is an essential parenting issue that has been related to a kid’s emotional development, particularly in developing the bond between children and their mothers. Breastfeeding eases each of you through the tears and tantrums that are an integral part of babyhood, besides helping to ensure that the effect of many diseases are milder and much easier to deal with.

Are there any negative effects of prolonged breastfeeding?

According to the obstetricians at AMRI Hospitals, prolonged breastfeeding does not have any effect on the baby, instead carries a positive effect. A significant positive for prolonged breastfeeding is that it helps mothers to reduce their post pregnancy weight, helps her maintain her normal figure, eve helps in weight loss. It also helps a mother to fight diseases like breast and ovarian cancers. Prolonged breastfeeding produces prolonged lactation, which helps in contraception simply by preventing it. Further, prolonged breastfeeding helps in strengthening the bond between mother and baby, subsequently helping in a child’s mental development. Babies who are breastfed for a long time achieve the developmental milestones earlier than babies who are breastfed through bottles.

Breastfeeding for an extended period is one of the most precious gifts that you can give to your child, especially during his/her first year, when it plays an essential nutritional role. After that period, the baby’s overall requirement for milk will start to dwindle, although breast milk will continue to provide excellent nutrients, immune strengthening benefits, and emotional security. It’s because of this emotional value that weaning can be tricky, particularly if there have been slight changes or stress in the family. 

If you’ve been breastfeeding for a prolonged period, it is quite natural that you might have to start to plan the weaning process of your baby, advice health practitioners at AMRI Hospitals, best maternity hospital in Kolkata. However, every parent must take note that, breastfeeding becomes so fast and easy over time it is actually quite right for you take the decision to continue nursing. One must keep in mind that there is nothing wrong or abnormal with extended breastfeeding, more so since society is changing and so are its norms.

There is practically nothing wrong with your baby breastfeeding for a longer period in time and a look at the child’s digestive enzymes will reveal that the baby was designed to be breastfed for at least two to three years or more. If the baby has been breastfed for a minimum period of nine to 18 months, he/she will be undoubtedly very reluctant to stop but this does not mean the baby is spoilt. It simply means the baby knows what is best for the self. Ultimately, how long one should breastfeed is up to the mother and the baby. There are certain advantages in both cases -- if the mother breastfeeds only for a few days, or if the baby is breastfed for years -- for both mother and child.