❤️ Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding is when a mother feeds her baby with her own milk. The WHO calls it the best food for a child in the first months of life. Breast milk is safe and clean, and it contains antibodies that help protect against many childhood illnesses.

The WHO advises starting breastfeeding within the first hour after birth. For the first six months it is best to give only breast milk, with no other food and not even water. From six months other foods are added, but breastfeeding can continue up to two years and beyond. Feeding on demand is advised: as often as the baby wants, day and night. In the second half of the first year, breast milk still gives half or more of what the baby needs.

According to the WHO, breastfed children have a lower risk of being overweight and of diabetes later in life. For mothers, the risk of breast and ovarian cancer goes down. If breastfeeding is not possible, infant formula is used. It is usually made from cow's milk, but the recipe is changed to make it closer to human milk.