With your health as our top priority, the Women and Infants Center at Wise Health System supports breastfeeding for optimum nutrition.
Recommendations
The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life, followed by breastfeeding in combination with the introduction of complementary foods until at least twelve months of age and continuation of breast milk feeding for as long as mutually desired by mother and baby. The Women and Infants Center at Wise Health System fully supports these organizations’ recommendations.
Benefits of Breastfeeding
Benefits for the infant:
- Unique nutritional source that cannot adequately be replaced by any other food
- Increased resistance to disease and infections early in life
- Breastfed children are less likely to contact a number of diseases later in life, including juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, heart disease and cancer before the age of 15.
- Strengthens the immune system
- Decreased respiratory illnesses
- Decreased ear infections
- Added protection against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
- Decreased allergies and eczema
- Decreased dental cavities
- Decreased gastrointestinal illnesses
Benefits for the mother:
- Burns extra calories, helping with pregnancy weight
- Releases the hormone oxytocin, which helps the uterus return to its pre-pregnancy size
- Reduces the mother’s risk of developing osteoporosis in later years
- Diabetic women improve their health by breastfeeding
- Women who breastfeed their infants have been shown to be less likely to develop uterine, endometrial or ovarian cancer
- Promotes emotional health – it benefits the mind by decreasing postpartum depression
- Bonding time with the baby
You Have Our Support
How you choose to feed your newborn is a very important decision. The Women and Infants Center will support our families while also continuing to educate and teach evidenced base practice regarding infant feeding.