By Erika Moreno / Delta Staff Writer

The can be a lot of benefits from breastfeeding. However, a lot of people don’t do it for a host of reasons, including a fear of being judged.

According to womenshealth.gov, breastfeeding can help the bond between the mom and newborn. Physical contact helps the newborn feel secure, warm, and comforted.

However, not only do the newborns benefit from this, the mom can also benefit from skin to skin contact since it boosts their oxytocin levels. Oxytocin also helps the breast milk flow and can also calm the mother down. 

Breastfeeding can also make life easier for the mother. They don’t have to spend money on formula or measure the serving size in the middle of the night when they are half asleep. Formula supplies for a baby usually cost over $1,500 a year. When the child wakes up in the middle of the night for his bottle the parents won’t have to get up and physically make the bottle. They can just satisfy the babies hunger right away.

Breastfed babies may also get sick less often, which will also help you save on health expenses. Breastfeeding can also decrease the chances of a mother having ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of breast cancer. 

Baby formula can also be very hard to digest, especially if they are a premature baby. Formula is made from cow’s milk and most of the time it takes time in order for the babies stomach to digest it. 

Also as babies grow, babies change. The breast milk adjusts to the babies changing needs as they get older. Researchers believe that the saliva from the baby transfers chemicals to the mother’s body through breastfeeding. 

Besides giving the babies nourishment and helping the babies from preventing being sick, breastfeeding can help you lose weight. 

Research on how breastfeeding can help save lives concluded that if 90 percent of families breastfed for six months, around 1,000 deaths among infants could be prevented each year. 

Breastfeeding can be more beneficial for the environment. Mother’s milk is something that comes packaged and warm. The formula cans and bottle supplies make more trash plastic waste which can lead to more animals dying because of them mistaking the plastic waste for a piece of food.