Parents are forced to make challenging decisions concerning their infants’ nutritional development. It is crucial that parents, especially mothers, are informed about the different ways in which they may feed their child so that they have the right to make informed decisions regarding their infant. One of these decisions includes whether to breastfeed or bottle feed their baby using a formula. While breastfeeding is a very popular choice, there are many mothers that chose to formula feed their infant instead. There are some women that cannot breastfeed due to specific circumstances.
Therefore, professionals should support each woman’s choice of infant nutrition and provide families with information about the different risks and feeding options available to them and their child. BreastfeedingBreastfeeding is a popular topic that sparks an ongoing debate. In the United States, many professionals and families support and encourage breastfeeding. However, it is important to keep in mind that breastfeeding is not always guaranteed for every mother. The relationship between breastfeeding and health is a matter that has been deeply studied. Academic and scholarly literature has presented research that explains how the lives of mothers and their babies greatly benefit from breastfeeding. Some of the literature includes: bonding, health and levels of intelligence. BondingResearch has claimed that breastfeeding an infant can enhance the relationship between a mother and her child by creating a special bond. A former study conducted in China analyzed the relationships of breastfed babies and their parents once the children reached age six. From this research, scholars claimed that the interaction between the mother and baby can produce greater maternal sensitivity and responsiveness to infant needs (Liu, Leung, & Yang, 2013).
Additionally, the production of prolactin and oxytocin during breastfeeding can reduce levels of maternal stress and enhance bonding (Liu, Leung, & Yang, 2013). This information suggests that breastfeeding reduces stress, causing the mother to be more responsive and interactive with the infant, further creating a close bond. This claim does not suggest that mothers who chose to formula feed have less of a bond with their babies. Moreover, the claims of the study are controversial with the findings. The researchers claim that the bond developed from both breastfeeding and formula feeding can help reduce bad behaviors in children by enhancing attachment between the mother and infant (Liu, Leung, & Yang, 2013). With this said, it is hard to reason that infant/mother bonding is strictly a result of breast feeding. HealthResearch claims that breastfeeding provides a great amount of nutritional value to an infant. This is likely because breastmilk provides a variety of vitamins and nutrients to the baby. Breastmilk contains long chain polyunsaturated fats (LPC). LPC’s are crucial as they promote brain growth while reducing the risks of hyperactivity and dyslexia (Mathur & Dhingra, 2014). Additionally, breastmilk is rich in fatty acids, and supplies numerous enzymes that increase digestibility and act as a defense against microbes (Mathur & Dhingra, 2014). This information suggests that breastmilk assists the digestive system and helps the child fight interfering stomach viruses. While this information is useful, the authors fail to recognize the nutrients provided by formula. It is also noted that breastfeeding is closely associated with long term health benefits for mothers. Studies show that the longer a mother is able to breastfeed, the less likely they are to get ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, metabolic syndrome, hypertension and type 2 diabetes (Louis-Jacques & Stuebe, 2018).
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Researchers further claim that breastfeeding can be very beneficial for a mother’s health as there are a variety of post-partum benefits. Some of these benefits include: decreased blood loss, greater weight loss, and lower risk of infection or anemia (Breastfeeding, 2015). While mothers may experience weight loss, it is not always the case. Weight loss is sometimes caused from lactating. It takes a lot of energy to lactate, and as energy burns off, milk is produced, and fat is burned (Riordan, 2005). However, all women are different their bodies are going to react different after going through childbirth—so it is hard to determine if women will even experience weight loss by breastfeeding. Additionally, researchers claim that babies do not have a fully developed immune system until they are at least two years of age. With this said, many young children are prone to catching common colds and illnesses. Children that are breast fed show lower rates of ear infections, respiratory infections, and other common childhood illnesses (Breastfeeding, 2015). This evidence implies that the different antibodies found in breast milk, have the ability to fight off infection. Although this information can be true, formula can provide similar results in babies.A recent report that was published in the Journal of Pediatrics discussed a study that examined the danger of babies having a low birth weight due to infection. Researchers put low weight babies into two groups: one group received a small amount of formula after being breastfed, while the other group did not. This study found that the babies who received formula were less likely to be readmitted to the hospital because they received an adequate amount of milk (Flaherman, 2017). This report suggests that babies do receive the proper amount of nutrients through formula, which ultimately supports their immune system. Researchers from this study also found that implementing small amounts of formula into infants daily intake, can help prevent jaundice and dehydration—leading to less newborn readmissions (Flaherman, 2017).
These conclusions suggests that giving infants a small amount of formula after being breastfed can benefit the infants health and provide the nutritional volume needed for babies. Furthermore, a study presented by the International Journal of Science evaluated research in which studied how breast milk helps wound healing in infants. Researchers found that 58% of formula fed infants’ wounds were still inflamed after the seventh day, while less than 30% of breastfed infant wounds were still inflamed (Ahmed, 2013). This information suggests that breastfed infants are more likely to have a faster recovery and less wound inflammation. This research only tested 100 infants, aged less than three months—which leaves the study very limited. Additionally, while this information can be useful, it might be controversy because it is not likely that many infants are exposed to open wounds in their first few months of life.
