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Breastfeeding vs. Bottle Feeding Essay

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Very few experts disagree with the fact that breastfeeding is the optimal choice for the infant. However, decreasing breastfeeding rates raise many questions as to why mothers are not choosing the best nutritional choice for their children. Despite breast milk being the obvious choice for infant feeding due to the health, psychological, and economic benefits, many mothers still decide to feed their infants formula due to lack of knowledge and support, difficulties with breastfeeding, and social embarrassment. Changes need to be made with formula companies, medical professionals, and the public opinion of breastfeeding in order to give nursing mothers the support they deserve.

The main factor in encouraging breastfeeding is the emphasis …show more content…

It is shown that the longer the duration of breastfeeding, the less likely they are to develop these health issues (Godfrey, Lawrence 1598).

Breastfeeding is also shown to improve psychological health for a mother. Mothers who breastfeed agree that they feel a closer bond with their children after breastfeeding and are able to better understand their child’s wants (Newman and Pitman 14). In The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that breastfeeding can reduce risk of postpartum depression, a condition that affects 13 percent of mothers, causing them to be upset and even angry at their child for crying, as well as other serious symptoms that can affect the mother’s mental state (3). They also found that a main reason some mothers chose to breastfeed was so that they could feel “a sense of bonding or closeness with her newborn” (United Sates 3). With all of these proven health benefits, there is no doubt that breastfeeding really is the best nutritional choice for a child as well as the mother.

Along with the health benefits breastfeeding has to offer, many economic benefits have been discovered through various studies. Weimer wrote an analysis of what these benefits could be and the results are surprising. While the Nutritional Program for Women, Infants, and
Children, better

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