0:12 - Ward against certain illnesses
0:29 - breast milk contain less insulin
0:54 - The connection that mother and baby get while breastfeeding
1:20 - Get the help of a lactation consultant
1:58 - Find a quiet place to breastfeed
3:12 - Breastfeeding is not always for everyone
Hi, guys. My name is Harper Jones with Bow-Tiger and you're watching Saturdays with Harper.
Today, I wanted to talk about breast feeding your baby. Now, there are several benefits to breastfeeding. The first being that it does ward against certain illnesses. The main ones being respiratory issues, stomach viruses and also allergies. We definitely wanna try out the breastfeeding to help our children in that aspect.
Another great reason to breastfeed is breast milk compared to formula has been shown to contain less insulin. Now, insulin essentially creates fat. Obesity in our country and around the world has become a huge issue and the less insulin in food, the better for our kids. So if we start them off on breast milk, they have . . . they are less likely to become obese when they're older, another big plus.
Another reason we may wanna breastfeed is the connection that mother and baby get while breastfeeding. This is a very intimate moment for mother and baby, and it's definitely one that you want to experience or at least try to experience.
Now, with that said, breastfeeding can be very difficult specially if you're a first time mom and you haven't done it before. But there are different things that you can do to make the experience more enjoyable and a little more stress free.
The first thing that you can do is, when you have the baby and when you're still in the hospital, you can request that a lactation consultant come in, speak with you, kind of explain the breastfeeding process even though I'm sure you guys, probably at this point have already read books and everything else. But ask her to sort of explain the process to you and then the lactation consultant will also help your baby latch on, show you different ways to hold the baby to make it easier for you and just make the experience an easier one for both you and baby.
This, I would definitely recommend as it does help and it makes you more comfortable when you're taking the baby home and having to do this all yourself.
Now, another thing that can put you at ease is finding a quiet place to breastfeed. There are a lot of people who don't mind breastfeeding amongst a hundred other people and in public, but you don't have to do that. If you feel that you're more comfortable being in the nursery or at home breastfeeding, and maybe you don't wanna breastfeed when you're out, you don't have to.
They make several different devices, different breast pumps and different cooling systems that keep your breast milk fresh when you go out. You can actually pump, put them into bottles and take them out if you go out for the day.
Now, with that said, there are other reasons that people maybe don't want to breastfeed. We did talk about the fact of sorta personal space being invaded when you go out. Now another reason people may not want to breastfeed is just that they aren't comfortable with the idea of breastfeeding. It is a completely natural thing, yet some people still find it a bit icky.
Now, I will say, if you're a first time mom and you have this feeling, you should still try the breastfeeding because it's an experience that you haven't had before, and even if it seems a little funny to you now, you'll find it to be very, very natural after you've have the baby.
Now, another thing that I wanna tell moms because I did experience this is, breastfeeding is not always for everyone. I believe everybody should try it and at least try it for a couple of months because that is the most important time for you to be breastfeeding. But if breastfeeding does not work out for you or if it becomes difficult, as it did for me, if you have to switch to formula at that time, it's okay. Your child will be fine if they switch to formula after a couple of months, and so long as you really feel that you've given a good effort to breastfeeding and you have made that attempt, you and child will be just fine.
If you are watching this video, of course on Facebook or YouTube, I'd like to ask that you guys check out our blog on bowtiger.com and we'll see you next week. Thanks.
