Breastfeeding, Is Breast Best?

10 Pages 2554 Words

by creating a basic foundation based on the background of breast milk and formula.

What is Breast Milk?
Breast milk contains several nutrients, as well as anti-infective properties; these include, living cells, hormones, colostrums, macrophages, lactobacillus bifdu, iron, fatty acids (DHA), lactose, casein, vitamins A, C, D and E and at least a hundred other ingredients. Breast milk is sterile; 100 percent free from bacteria. Breast milk is never able to be duplicated because the exact chemical composition is still unknown (Williams and Stehlins, 2002).
Breast milk is produced and released by a process known as “the let-down reflex.” When a mother places her baby to her breast, the baby begins to suckle.
This sucking action stimulates the nerve endings in the mother’s nipples. These nerve endings, once stimulated, then send signals to the mother’s pituitary gland which causes the gland to produce the hormone prolactin. This hormone then signals the alveoli in the woman’s breasts to produce milk. The baby’s suckling also stimulates the pituitary gland to produce another important hormone called oxytocin. This hormone then travels through the mother’s bloodstream to the breast which causes the aveoli to contract. This process squeezes the milk from the aveoli into the milk ducts and makes the milk available for your infant. Once the process of let-down has begun, it will continue so long as the nipples are suckled which causes the mother’s body to continue to produce milk. The start of the let-down reflex may vary among mothers. In some it can take only a few seconds, while in others the let-down reflex may take several minutes. However, after the initial start of the let-down reflex when lactation and a schedule of nursing becomes well-developed some mothers have the let-down reflex simply from seeing their baby smile, or hearing their baby cry.
What is Formula?
Most infant formula comes from cow's milk (...