Breastfeeding

Nursing our son is my favorite part of the day! I love spending time skin on skin and bonding with our son. I love how he looks and me and the connection we have is so amazing. I know God created our bodies to be able to do this for a reason the benefits of nursing are endless. 

What’s good for baby is also good for mother. When mothers follow nature’s lead and breastfeed their babies, their own bodies benefit–so do their budgets!

1. Reduces the risk of breast cancer. Women who breastfeed reduce their risk of developing breast cancer by as much as 25 percent. The reduction in cancer risk comes in proportion to the cumulative lifetime duration of breastfeeding. That is, the more months or years a mother breastfeeds, the lower her risk of breast cancer.
2. Reduces the risk of uterine and ovarian cancer. One of the reasons for the cancer-fighting effects of breastfeeding is that estrogen levels are lower during lactation. It is thought that the less estrogen available to stimulate the lining of the uterus and perhaps breast tissue also, the less the risk of these tissues becoming cancerous.
3. Lessens osteoporosis. Non-breastfeeding women have a four times greater chance of developing osteoporosis than breastfeeding women and are more likely to suffer from hip fractures in the post-menopausal years.
4. Benefits child spacing. Since breastfeeding delays ovulation, the longer a mother breastfeeds the more she is able to practice natural childspacing, if she desires. How long a woman remains infertile depends on her baby’s nursing pattern and her own individual baby.
5. Promotes emotional health. Not only is breastfeeding good for mother’s body, it’s good for her mind. Studies show that breastfeeding mothers show less postpartum anxiety and depression than do formula-feeding mothers.
6. Promotes postpartum weight loss. Breastfeeding mothers showed significantly larger reductions in hip circumference and more fat loss by one month postpartum when compared with formula-feeding moms. Breastfeeding mothers tend to have an earlier return to their pre-pregnant weight.
7. Costs less to breastfeed. It costs around $1,200 a year to formula-feed your baby. Even taking into consideration the slight increase in food costs to a breastfeeding mother, the American Academy of Pediatrics estimates that a breastfeeding mother will save around $400 during the first year of breastfeeding.

Did you know?!?? The same hormone is released during sex is also released during breastfeeding! Oxytocin! 

As your baby nurses, prolactin — known as the "mothering hormone" — stimulates the body to manufacture milk. This hormone gives you a feeling of relaxation and well-being. Oxytocin, another hormone secreted during breastfeeding, causes the alveoli to contract, releasing milk into the ducts, the milk sinuses, and your baby's mouth. This hormone is responsible for the tingling sensation some mothers feel before a milk ejection reflex, or letdown, and the postpartum uterine cramping felt while breastfeeding.

Oxytocin also causes labor contractions during childbirth and pleasure contractions during orgasm. Varying amounts of oxytocin are attributed to these different contractions. The arousal you can feel while nursing may also be the result of the empowerment and satisfaction you feel knowing that you are meeting all of your daughter's nutritional and emotional needs at the breast.