Breastfeeding or bottle feeding
For mothers it is always a difficult question: breastfeeding or bottle feeding. Breastfeeding is and remains the best nutrition for a newborn baby. After all, nature arranges it this way for a reason. Of course, you are free in the choice you make regarding breastfeeding or bottle feeding. For some, that choice is easier than for others. We have listed all the pros and cons of breastfeeding and bottle feeding for you in a decision guide, which you will receive at the second check-up. It can help you make your decision. The most important thing is that you make the choice you fully support, and not because you think you have to.
Would you like personal advice now? Contact us on 020-775 99 27. You can reach us by phone on weekdays between 08:30 and 16:00. You can also email us at verloskundigen@pregnanta.nl. We will then contact you as soon as possible. Would you like to make an appointment to visit the practice? Click the button to make an appointment straight away.
ADVANTAGES
BREASTFEEDING
ADVANTAGES FOR THE BABY
The longer you breastfeed, the stronger all the effects mentioned are.
- The first breast milk is called colostrum and ensures that the meconium (= the first stool) passes quickly through the intestines. This quick passage means your baby can get rid of waste products more quickly.
- The composition of breast milk is adapted at every feed to your baby’s needs.
- This means that every feed has a different composition and is specifically tailored to what your baby needs.
- Breast milk contains antibodies against diseases. It helps the development of your baby’s immune system by promoting the maturing of the digestive tract. As a result, ‘breastfed babies’ have, among other things, less chance of stomach and intestinal infections, ear infections and respiratory infections.
- Breastfeeding reduces the chance of developing allergies, such as food allergies and asthma.
- It also reduces the chance of eczema.
- Breastfeeding reduces the risk of sudden infant death (cot death).
- Breastfed children have better speech development. This is because a baby has to use its mouth and tongue muscles optimally to get the milk.
- Breast milk tastes different every day, depending on what you as a mother eat. This way your baby gets to know different flavours early on.
- Later in life, breastfed babies have a lower cholesterol level, less overweight, less diabetes and less chance of cardiovascular disease compared with formula-fed babies.
ADVANTAGES FOR THE MOTHER
- Breastfeeding causes less blood loss due to the release of the hormone oxytocin, which makes the womb shrink more quickly.
- The hormone oxytocin gives you lower blood pressure and fewer stress hormones in your body.
- Breastfeeding for a long time (at least 6 months) reduces the risk of breast cancer before the menopause.
- Research shows that breastfeeding reduces the risk of rheumatoid arthritis (chronic joint rheumatism) in the mother.
- You get back to your old weight more quickly, because breastfeeding costs 500 kcal extra per day.
PRACTICAL ADVANTAGES
- Breastfeeding can be very practical, because it is free, always available and at the right temperature. You don’t have to sterilise bottles and prepare milk, which takes less time.
- Breastfeeding gives mother, baby and father more rest: the whole feeding cycle is shorter, because your baby can drink as soon as he or she indicates this and doesn’t have to wait and be comforted until the bottle has been warmed up.
BOTTLE FEEDING
ADVANTAGES FOR THE BABY
- Formula milk is enriched with vitamins D and K, so you don’t need to give these separately.
- You are certain about the amount of milk your baby gets, because you can see how much is drunk from the bottle.
- Your baby may start sleeping through the night a bit earlier, because formula milk is harder to digest.
ADVANTAGES FOR THE MOTHER
- As a mother, you don’t have to give all the feeds yourself. This can give you a greater sense of freedom. However, it is advised to let the same people give the bottle as much as possible.
- You no longer have to take into account what you eat or drink, such as food you notice causes intestinal cramps in the baby, and drinking alcohol.
- You may diet and follow a diet plan.
- If you cannot breastfeed for medical reasons, formula milk is a good and responsible alternative.
- It is easier when you go back to work.
DISADVANTAGES
BREASTFEEDING
- Breastfeeding can mean that in the first period you have to invest more time in feeding your baby. Good preparation for breastfeeding can help you get through this period more relaxed. An information evening tells you what you can expect and what is ‘normal’.
- Your baby indicates when it has had enough. So you don’t literally see what goes ‘in’. This makes some mothers feel uncertain.
- Only you can breastfeed your baby, although by expressing milk you can let anyone else give the breast milk in a bottle. This can feel hard for you, because feeding falls on the mother.
- Breast milk contains too little vitamin K and D. You must give these separately during the first three months.
- After your leave you have to ‘arrange’ more to continue breastfeeding. Think in advance (during pregnancy) about how you want to do this and make good agreements with your employer! Did you know, for example, that you may use 25% of your working time to express milk or breastfeed?
BOTTLE FEEDING
- Formula milk is made from cow’s milk. This is one of the biggest causes of allergy. More and more Dutch people suffer from lactose intolerance (cow’s milk allergy).
- With formula milk, during the first six months the composition and amount of each feed follow a fixed schedule. So it takes less account of your baby’s needs at that moment and doesn’t take premature or late-born babies into account.
- Formula milk contains no natural antibodies to protect your baby against allergies and infections.
- Children who are not breastfed are admitted to hospital more often during the first 3 years of life.
- Formula-fed children have a greater chance of overweight and developing early diabetes. You breastfeed on demand, so your child learns early on to indicate when it has had enough to eat. This is unlike a formula-fed child, who keeps drinking until the bottle is empty.
- Children who get formula milk more often suffer from constipation and intestinal cramps.
- You lose your own fat reserves less quickly.
- Formula milk needs more attention: you have to pay attention to the temperature of the milk, the composition and the hygienic cleaning of teat and bottle. You have to think about how much your baby ‘should’ drink.