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Breastfeeding: The benefits for you and your baby

Why breast is best

• Health care professionals agree that the healthiest food for a young baby is breastmilk.
• Breastmilk provides a complete food source that contains all the nutrients your baby needs including hormones and disease-fighting compounds.
• The nutritional composition of breastmilk adjusts to your baby’s needs as he grows and develops.
• Breastfeeding also helps you to build a good relationship with your baby. The frequent interaction helps to establish your relationship, and suckling at the breast provides a great source of comfort and security for your baby.

Breastmilk develops your baby’s immune system

• We all have immune systems that protect our bodies from invasion by harmful foreign bodies like bacteria and viruses.
• The immune system is made up of a network of defences including physical ones such as the skin and the gut and defences in the blood such as white blood cells and antibodies.
• The womb is a sterile environment, where your baby will have come into contact with very few potentially harmful bacteria.
• This means that a baby is born with an immature immune system, with only a little protection already in place received via antibodies delivered across the placenta.
• The first milk your baby receives from you – known as colostrum – is absolutely vital to his health. It contains white blood cells, antibodies and prebiotics that build up your baby’s immune system.
• Colostrum also acts as a laxative, helping your baby to get rid of his first sticky green stool after birth. This is known as meconium.

Support and connecting with other mums on the same breastfeeding journey encourages, motivates and even inspires us as parents. Mumslikeus is a community of breastfeeding mums offering information, real life stories, videos and interactive tools to help you along your journey.

Mumslikeus is an Aptamil initiative to support and encourage breastfeeding in Ireland. As Ireland has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in Europe, we strongly feel this is part of our social and environmental responsibility.

We have created this online community to assist you on every stage of your breastfeeding journey. You can even receive emails summarising what to expect at particular stages of your journey so you are prepared and fully supported.

What happens after I’ve fed my baby colostrum?

• Your mature milk will come in at around the third to fifth day after birth.
• It contains all the good ingredients found in colostrum, but in smaller amounts.
• Breastmilk strengthens babies’ natural immune system. Breastfed babies have a decreased incidence of respiratory infections, diarrhoea, ear infections, bacterial meningitis, botulism, urinary tract infections and necrotising entercolitis (NEC).
• Learn more about immunity and the clinical research carried out on prebiotics.