The AAP says babies should be breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months. Beyond that, the AAP encourages breastfeeding until at least 12 months, and longer if both the mother and baby are willing.
Breastfeeding may take a little more effort than formula feeding at first. But it can make life easier once you and your baby settle into a good routine. Plus, when you breastfeed, there are no bottles and nipples to sterilize. You do not have to buy, measure, and mix formula. And there are no bottles to warm in the middle of the night! You can satisfy your baby’s hunger right away when breastfeeding.
When you formula feed you are looking at a large expense over a year. Just think, with breastfeeding the only things you might have to buy are lanolin cream, a pump, and breast pads. With formula you will have to buy clean water, bottles, formula, and so on a cost totaling over $1,500 each year, depending on how much your baby eats. Also, your baby will be sick less when breastfed so lower health care cost as well.
So as you can see, breastfeeding is great for baby, but what about Mommy. Well, there are tons of benefits for you as well. Here are just a few.
Then there are the benefits to society. The nation benefits overall when mothers breastfeed. Recent research shows that if 90 percent of families breastfed exclusively for 6 months, nearly 1,000 deaths among infants could be prevented. The United States would also save $13 billion per year — medical care costs are lower for fully breastfed infants than never-breastfed infants. Breastfed infants typically need fewer sick care visits, prescriptions, and hospitalizations. It can contribute to a more productive workforce since mothers miss less work to care for sick infants. Employer medical costs are also lower. Breastfeeding is also better for the environment. There is less trash and plastic waste compared to that produced by formula cans and bottle supplies.
Imagine you are formula feeding and the power goes out or there is weather related disaster. How would you get warm water to clean your bottles and to warm them? Would you have to worry about finding clean water? Also, where would you go to buy your formula? Would you have to worry about all those things if you were breastfeeding? If you answered NO you would be right. When you are breastfeeding and there is a weather disaster or the power goes out you don't have to worry about any of those things.
Now, all that being said. I know there are times when you might need formula. For example, I am having to supplement Nora. Supplement meaning just that. She breastfeeds most of the day and gets on average 10oz of formula a day. I was unable to make enough milk for her naturally and that was confirmed by the professionals since she was not gaining the amount of weight she needed to. I still cherish my time with Nora breastfeeding though, and believe it's one of the best choices I have ever made for HER, since that's all I worry about now.
If you would like more information on breast feeding there are a ton of sites out there that might help. Here are a few I recommend:
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