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Breast milk or formula milk?

Feeding your baby

Breast milk or formula milk?

Many new mothers are always debating in their heads as to what to feed their newborns. Here are the pros and cons of each type of milk your baby should receive in the first 6 months.

Breastmilk or formula?
Doctors and the World Health Organization (WHO) recommend that children be exclusively breastfed in the first 6 months. However, certain circumstances may make that difficult to attain.

Baby’s benefits of breastfeeding

Your benefits of breastfeeding

Limitations of breastfeeding
Breast milk digests faster, so breastfed babies may feed more often than formula-fed babies. You might need to feed your baby as often as every 2 or 3 hours in the first few weeks.

There are situations where a mother may not be able to breastfeed due to health and lifestyle reasons. For instance, a mother who is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV, the virus that causes AIDS) or undergoing chemotherapy cannot breastfeed.

Formula milk
The decision to breastfeed or formula-feed a baby is a question of comfort, lifestyle, and specific medical situations. Mothers who can’t breastfeed — for one reason or another — or who decide not to, can use infant formula as a healthy alternative. Babies can get all the nutrients they need to grow and thrive from infant formula.

Benefits of formula milk

Limitations of formula feeding

Regardless of your feeding method, loving mothers who spend quality time with their babies always bond with their little ones. So choose whatever that makes everyone happy.

Verified:

Dr. Wanwadee Sapmee Panyakat (OB-GYN) (17 November 2021)

Sources:

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