It is recommended that all infants should be fed exclusively on breastmilk until they are six months of age and continued to be breastfed till 2 years or beyond. Breastfeeding is advantageous for all - you, your baby and the society.

Before your baby is born he is protected within your womb from all infections and after birth breastfeeding takes over the protection process.The milk which you secrete for the first few days known as colostrum should be given to your baby as it provides resistance to your baby against various diseases and infections.

Your milk is made specially for your own baby. It is the right nutrition for the growth of your baby. It is easy to digest and it contains protective substances which help prevent infection especially loose stools. You can give it even when you are ill, pregnant or menstruating.

Benefits your baby enjoys:

Benefits you enjoy as a mother:

Breastfeeding has many advantages to the mother, which include the following (Fig. 1)-

Benefits the society enjoys:

Breastfeeding lowers health-care costs by reducing illness and deaths of children under five years of age and thus reduces the strain on the family budget.

It helps in reducing absenteism of mothers from work as exclusively breastfed children are less prone to diseases.Thus, it will prove less costly to the employer.

"Breastmilk is all that the baby needs for the first six months." Breastmilk is an ideal food for your baby because it contains all the nutrients that a baby needs for first 6 months of life. It is quickly and easily digested and it contains fat, lactose, protein, vitamins, minerals (including iron), immunoglobulins, and water which are necessary for growth of your baby.

Colostrum-The first few days of breastmilk

During the first few days after delivery you produce a special milk known as colostrum which is thick, sticky and yellowish in colour.

It is easily digestible, contains anti-infective elements to protect your newborn against infections.

It stimulates your baby's immature intestines to develop, in order to digest and absorb milk and to prevent the absorption of undigested proteins.

Colostrum also has a mild "gut clearing effect", which helps your baby's gut to pass the first, very dark stool called meconium. It also helps to prevent jaundice by clearing the bilirubin from the gut.

Although colostrum is secreted in small quantities (30-90ml), it is sufficient to meet the energy needs of a normal newborn during the first few days of life.

Mature milk

During the two weeks that follow the colostrum stage, the milk increases in quantity and changes in appearance and composition as per your baby's needs, the protein content decreases while the fat and sugar content increases. At this time,your breasts may feel full, hard and heavy.

Mature milk is thinner and watery but contains all the nutrients essential for optimum physical and mental development of the baby. The mature milk consists of hindmilk and foremilk.

The milk which comes at the start of the feed is called fore milk. Foremilk, which is watery and bluish in color, has a low level of fat and is high in lactose, sugar, protein, vitamins, minerals and water. It satisfies your baby's thirst and is produced in large amount than hind milk.You may sometimes worry that your milk is too thin. Milk is never "too thin". It is important for you to give both foremilk and hindmilk to provide complete meal and water that your baby needs.

Hindmilk, is the milk which comes later in a feed, is richer in fat and this extra fat makes it look whiter than foremilk. It satisfies the baby's hunger and supplies much of the energy required. Therefore, it is important not to take your baby off the breast too quickly.

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