The advantages of breast-feeding

1.       Nursing stimulates uterine contractions that help prevent hemorrhaging and return the uterus to its normal size.

2.       Breast milk is convenient and economical; it is sterile, portable, and always the right temperature.

3.       Nursing promotes a special kind of mother-infant bonding.

4.       Breast-fed babies have fewer infections, the benefit extend beyond childhood; studies show that people who were breast-fed have a reduced incidence of obesity, diabetes, asthma, heart disease, and some types of cancer.

5.       Breast milk may protect infants with a strong family history of allergy from developing one.

6.       Women who breast-feed have a reduced risk of premenopausal breast cancer and postmenopausal osteoporosis (loss of bone mass)

Source : Reader digest's