Nutrition Month Celebration Theme: IMPLEMENT BREASTFEEDING; RIGHT, ENOUGH AND EXCLUSIVE!

      Breastfeeding is one of the most innate, natural and valuable deed a mother can do for her beloved and cherished child. Breast milk lingers to be the one and only natural complete and complex nutrition for human infants. Its nature’s formula for ensuring the health and quality of life of a babe.

       Numerous and incalculable health benefits have been proven and is verified to pass from the mother to the child through breast milk, from antibodies which protect an infant at birth to the exclusive nutrients of the mother’s milk which have been revealed and flaunted to prevent a number of childhood diseases, disorders and ailments.

     Yet, in today’s society, breastfeeding is often thought as unnecessary and gratuitous. Mothers are mistakenly led and preceded to believe that a formula does very well as replacement for breast milk. It unequivocally and emphatically does not! Nothing can duplicate the properties of breast milk no matter how much vitamins and minerals and supplements are added to what is the basically the chemical formula.

     There are several reasons why breast milk is better and healthier. Breast milk contains over 400 nutrients that cannot be recreated nor reformed in laboratories. These Nutrients are essential and prerequisite to the healthy product in and growth of babies. In fact, the calorie density, protein, carbohydrates and fats in breast milk changes with the growth of baby in order to meet the nutritional needs of the baby, unlike in formulated milks. Breast milk is also not contained by bacteria and is easier for the infant’s stomach to digest. Infants who have been breast fed for at least eight months have reduced risks of: childhood cancers, diarrheal disease, respiratory illness, ear infections, infant botulism, obesity, cavities and a lot more to mention. In reality breastfeeding is a free service and of no price.

     With just these facts alone indeed it is just right to implement breastfeeding: right, enough, and exclusive here in the Philippines.  So,”Breastfeeding is still the best for babies up to two years old and beyond” and “Breast is still the best”.