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Children's Health Outcomes
There are many short and long term health benefits associated with both breastfeeding in general and prolonging your breastfeeding relationship.
3. Breastfeeding helps your infant regulate his body temperature and rate of respiration (Spatz & Lessen, 2011).
1. Breastfeeding reduces your child's risk for a number of serious illness and infections, and your child's risks are further reduced for each additional month of full breastfeeding (Rossman et al., 2015).
Breastfeeding reduces your child's risk of:
- respiratory infections
- ear infections
- urinary tract infections
- stomach flu
- necrotizing enterocolitis*
Early initiation and continued duration of breastfeeding reduces your child's risk for a number of serious health-related complications, both in infancy and throughout adulthood, and should be supported whenever possible.
In the short term . . .
2. Breastfeeding reduces your child's risk of dying in infancy (Rossman et al., 2015).
In both developed and developing countries, breastfeeding helps protect your child from postnatal death by reducing him risk of infectious diesaese and by reducing her risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
4. Breastfeeding reduces your infants response to pain (Spatz & Lessen, 2011).
Both suckling at the breast and breastmilk relieves pain for your infant. Nursing your child after a fall, or medical procedure, such as a circumcision, can help your child manage pain. You may even notice your child's desire to nurse increase when sick. Nursing will not only comfort your child, but it will also provide important antibodies so that your child can fight infection.
In the long term . . .
1. Prolonging the breastfeeding relationship also reduces the risk of your child developing more longterm illnesses and health complications (Rossman et al., 2015).
Breastfeeding reduces your child's risk of:
- Asthma
- Atopic Dermatitis
- Childhood Inflamatory Bowel Disease
- Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes
- Childhood Cancer
*necrotizing enterocolitis - is a devastating disease that affects mostly the intestine of premature infants. The wall of the intestine is invaded by bacteria, which cause local infection and inflammation that can ultimately destroy the wall of the bowel (intestine).
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