We hear of the many nutritional and nurturing benefits breastfeeding provides your baby. But what aren’t always talked about are the health benefits breastfeeding provides you.
Mothers who breastfeed:
• benefit from having baby close. Skin-to- skin contact boosts your oxytocin levels. Oxytocin is a hormone that helps milk flow and can calm you.
• are able to drop pregnancy weight faster due to the number of calories burned during breastfeeding.
• are able to forgo the expense of formula and bottles, which means a savings of more than $1,500 during baby’s first year.
• are protected against pregnancy (98 to 99 percent effective) during the first six months of baby’s life.
• are less at risk for Type 2 diabetes, as well as breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer.
• are less at risk for developing osteoporosis. Though you lose calcium while nursing, once you wean your baby, calcium levels usually return to pre-pregnancy or even higher levels.