Keep Britain Breastfeeding: The benefits of breastfeeding

This year I am very excited to be part of Keep Britain Breastfeeding Scavenger Hunt which is from today (20th June) until 26th June! As you may already know, I'm a mum of two but I didn't manage to 'master' breastfeeding Oliver so I combined for a while but not long at all, so this time I decided I wanted to give it my really best try - I know that I gave up too soon with Oliver but I was determined to educate myself and give it my best shot with breastfeeding Isabelle and it's the one of the best choices I've made. She's now 13 weeks and we both love breastfeeding - it hasn't been 'easy' though, as I always say... 

 'It might be natural - doesn't mean it's always easy!'

The benefits of breastfeeding

I've always known that 'breast is best' but I won't lie to you - I didn't actually know reasons why? So when I was pregnant with Isabelle, already knowing after not breastfeeding Oliver exclusively that it was something I'd like to achieve with her. Therefore I spent alot of time looking into it, I read magazines and even watched a dvd all about it. I got some great tips and I feel like the researching while I was pregnant really helped me get this far. I love knowing the benefits of breastfeeding and if you're very early in your pregnancy don't let that put you off looking into breastfeeding, I say the earlier you start thinking about feeding your baby - the better!

I am so determined to breast feed Isabelle that I've given up chocolate to do so! (We've just found out that she is dairy intolerant, so I've cut dairy out of my diet completely so that I can still breastfeed her without upsetting her tummy, it was pretty scary she had terrible green nappies with blood in them, it wasn't until she was 11 weeks old that we found out it was dairy causing her symptoms and she has been slow at gaining weight which at times made me feel like it was my breast milk - now I know it wasn't. She was born at 8lb 6oz and at 13 weeks shes 10lb 7oz).

Me & Isabelle after a feed

So how is breast best? Well this is something I did know - it's the only natural food designed just for your baby, all by yourself! It's on tap hehe, so wherever you are and no matter what time it is you can feed your baby when they need it.
It's free so you don't need to buy tins of formula milk and theres no need to heat it up, it comes out of you the right temperature! I love the bond that we have, Isabelle knows I am the one that provides the milk and she often comes off my boob to look up at me and smile then goes back on again... I love that! Breast milk also protects your baby from infections such as ear/chest and makes them less likely to suffer with diarrhoea/vomiting - when Oliver was 4 months old he ended up in hospital with this so to me thats a really big deal. It was horrible to watch so anything I can do to avoid that happening again I will do.
Breastfed babies are also less likely to be constipated - this was another big thing for Oliver and it is so horrible to watch little people in pain due to being constipated, they just don't understand so I love that Isabelle is less likely to suffer with that. 
Also less chance that she will have eczema - another thing Oliver has suffered with... can you see a trend here? I wish that I had of known more about breastfeeding and had the right support when Oliver was a baby to see if I could of breastfed him too.

Breast milk naturally adapts to your babies current needs! no need to change anything :) with Oliver I needed to change the forumla milk from stage 1 to stage 2 and so on... There's also less waste, I remember throwing away lots of bottles with Oliver that he just didn't finish in time - breast milk is obviously safely stored in your boobs!!
As you can see breast milk offers great benefits and health benefits for baby but did you know it also offers health benefits for mum too? Yep... Lower chance that a breastfeeding mother will develop breast or ovarian cancer. The C word scares me alot so this to me this is a big deal, as I'm sure it is to everyone else. Also when breastfeeding you burn up to 500 calories a day - that's good for me because I seem to be eating alot more. As well as these, there will be that strong bond between you and baby - like I mentioned above, although I have a strong bond with Oliver too and he wasn't exclusively breastfed but I absolutely love my snuggly times with Isabelle and when she's on my boob, comes off and looks up to me to smile is lovely. I guess I also like that I am the feeder!

What I have noticed is that exclusively breastfeeding your baby can mean your monthly periods are slower to return after having your baby! Result? Not to mention, breast milk is free and you don't need to remember to take bottles out with you or to make sure anything is sterilised. 

Finally this might be a silly benefit but its my benefit - breastfeeding can be hands free which means during one feed in the day I can do my online food shopping! :) haha never thought I'd be delighted to be doing boring online food shopping but I am. 

Remember whatever breastmilk you can give to your baby - it will protect them, so if you only do the first feed or the first day like I did with Oliver and they get the colostrum they're still getting goodness from you. The longer you are able to breastfeed them the longer they will be protected!

Now you can enter the massive giveaway!  Good luck, x 

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

To read more posts about breastfeeding and to gain more entries in the giveaway, you can have a look at these other bloggers involved 

1. Diddle Diddle Dumpling
2. Mummy is a gadget geek 
3. My Little L  
4. My baby boy and me 
5. Hex mum

And one company thats involved is Breast Vest