When you have a newborn, one of the first things many women do is hop on CMC Gold and purchase cute baby things. While this is a must for most mothers, another thing to consider if you are not breastfeeding is where you’re buying baby formula. One of the biggest struggles has to be what to feed your newborn baby if it’s not mothers breast milk. Now, you can go one of two ways; you can either breastfeed or give the baby formula. But which one is best for the baby? This is also a question new mothers especially have struggled with. Of course, some benefits come from both, but most benefits slide towards the natural milk, though. But it would help if you also looked at the risk in some cases to have an affair gauge. So here’s a summary of which is best for any newborn and under what conditions.
Breast Milk
One of the best traits of breast milk is that kids don’t suffer many infections. This will also help reduce the time the newborn will spend being hospitalized. Some of the infections that kids will avoid thanks to breast milk include
- Diarrhea
- Respiratory infections
- Meningitis
- Ear infections
- Various allergies
Other than that, there are several benefits that breast milk will carry. Some of them include
- Free – the major and best benefit of breast milk is that it is free. Unlike baby formula, where you spend a lot, you don’t have to spend a single cent. You won’t even have to spend money on bottles if you breastfeed the newborn.
- Taste – your baby is more cultured to solid food than you know it when you breastfeed. They will have different tastes, depending on the food the mother eats. With formula, the baby will only have one taste throughout.
The baby will be more inclined to solid food when it comes as they’ll be familiar with the tastes.
- Convenience – with breast milk, you only need to pop open the boob for the baby and allow them to feed. You don’t have to deal with warming the milk, then cooling it.
- Nutrition –breast milk is the perfect food as it is nutritious. The baby will find it easy to ingest the milk, and the digestive process will also be easy.
There’ll be fewer cases of constipation and diarrhea when the baby feeds on breast milk.
- Skin-to-skin Contact – newborns thrive when the mother bonds with them, and skin-to-skin is the best form of bonding. The emotional connection will be made stronger when the mother breastfeeds the baby.
Formula
With formula, several benefits come with it as much as breast milk. Some of the benefits that come with it include
- Convenience – the first thing you have to note with formula is that the mother doesn’t need to feed the baby. Any parent can feed the baby easily.
- Flexibility – anyone, even a caregiver, can remain with the newborn, and they’ll feed.
- Diet – the mother doesn’t need to be watchful of what they eat when they feed with formula. The baby will be safe regardless of what the mother eats.
Which is Better Formula or Breast Milk?
Each option has its benefits, and you need to be watchful before you choose. The above are benefits that come with either of them. You need to look at what’s convenient for you and the baby in the long run.