Every bit of breastfeeding helps.  Below are some examples of benefits of breastfeeding, organized by length of time.

If you nurse your baby for a few days after birth:

• You provide him with a healthy dose of colostrum, often called the baby’s ‘first vaccine’.
• Sometime between the second and fifth day after your baby is born, your milk will change from colostrum to transitional milk, which is thinner and more plentiful. This milk also contains important antibodies, which will continue to protect your baby for as long as he nurses.
• Breastfeeding during these early days is helpful for you as well as your baby. Breastfeeding helps you develop a special closeness as you get to know this new little person who has entered your life, and also helps your body recover from childbirth more quickly by releasing hormones that contract your uterus and reduce postpartum bleeding.

If you nurse your baby for 4-6 weeks:

• You will be helping to ease his transition through the most vulnerable part of his infancy.
• The hormones prolactin and oxytocin that are released when you nurse are called “the mothering hormones”, and help you relax. When researchers give them to laboratory mice, (even males), they start building nests and doing motherly things. They really are powerful hormones, and many mothers report that even when they are extremely stressed, they feel a rush of relaxation when their milk lets down.

If you nurse for 3-6 months:

• Your baby will be healthier than the baby who is formula fed.
• Studies have found that babies who were exclusively breastfed for at least four months had half as many ear infections as formula fed babies.
• Nursing can help you lose the extra weight you put on during pregnancy. Mothers who breastfed lose more weight by the time their babies are 3-6 months old than formula feeding mothers who consumed fewer calories, because breast milk production mobilizes the fat you stored during pregnancy, and also uses up about 500 calories each day.

If you nurse for 6 months:

• Your baby will be much less likely to have problems with allergies, since at around that time, your baby’s intestinal tract begins to produce antibodies which coat his intestines and protect him from foreign proteins and allergens.
• Mother’s milk will supply all the nutrients your baby needs for at least the first six months of life, and if you have a family history of allergies, it’s a good idea to wait until at least six months before introducing solid foods, as allergies are less likely to develop after this time.

If you nurse for 9 months:

• You will be helping your baby through one of the most important developmental periods of his young life. Babies between six and nine months go through so many changes – sitting up, teething, starting solids, crawling, pulling up, and more. Even though an older baby is eating solid foods, breastmilk is still the most important part of his diet, and continues to provide him with important immunities at a time when he is crawling around and putting EVERYTHING in his mouth, including yucky, germy stuff.

If f you nurse for a year or more, as recommended by the AAP:

• Your baby will receive health benefits that last a lifetime. Long-term nursing protects against ulcerative colitis, diabetes, asthma, Crohn’s disease, obesity, and high cholesterol in adulthood. Babies who are breastfed for a year or more are less likely to need speech therapy or braces later in life.

Adopted from an article by Anne Smith, IBCLC at Breastfeeding Basics website.