Breastfeeding: Beneficial For The Premature Baby

There's no question that "breast is best", but breast milk is particularly beneficial for the premature baby. However, babies born prematurely often have difficulty breastfeeding. This article will explore ways to overcome these breastfeeding challenges in order to provide your premature infant with the invaluable benefits of breast milk. The content of your breast milk is uniquely tailored to your specific baby's needs. As your child grows from newborn to toddler, the nutritional content of your breast milk changes to accommodate his or her changing needs. Therefore, the fat, carbohydrate, protein, and caloric content of your breast milk will be different when your baby is two weeks old than when your child is two years old. This is one of …show more content…
For example, formula does not provide the antibodies that breast milk contains, which help establish the infant's immune system and explains why breastfed babies get sick less and have fewer ear and respiratory infections. Incredibly, when your baby is exposed to illness, your body immediately begins producing antibodies to fight off that particular bacteria, which is passed to your baby via breast milk. The well documented immunological benefits of breast milk is of particular importance for the premature infant whose immune system is especially immature. Formula also contains cow's milk, which baby's immature digestive systems are not designed to process. This can result in allergies and digestion problems. Cow's milk also contains different ratios of protein, carbohydrates, and fats than breast milk-after all, cow's milk was designed to feed calves, not human infants. Your body's amazing ability to customize the milk you produce to your baby's individual needs is particularly beneficial when your baby happens to be born …show more content…
Your body knows that you have given birth early and that your baby has special nutritional needs. Breastfeeding also offers the benefits of increased skin-to-skin contact, which is highly beneficial for all infants, but especially preemies, and has even been shown to reduce the length of hospital stays for premature infants. Therefore, it is especially critical that the premature infant be breastfed if at all possible. However, premature infants, even those born "just a little early", known as "late pre-term" infants, often have difficulties initially with breastfeeding. Some of these babies simply do not have the strength to breastfeed efficiently yet. Others may expend more calories nursing than they are able to take in during the early days before mother's milk comes in. While that is typically not problematic for the healthy, full-term baby, it can be dangerous for preemies. It is normal for it to take several days for mother's milk to come in after giving birth. This is why babies often lose a little weight in the first few days after birth. The body fat that the fetus puts on in the final weeks of pregnancy is nature's way of equipping the full-term baby to withstand this weight