Health Benefits Of Breast-Feeding

Breast-feeding is a natural process where young infants can get their nutritional intake, which means young infants would be healthier and have a lower risk of getting infections and serious health problems. Not only does breast-feeding prevent the young infant from infections and serious health problems, it also creates an emotional bond between the mother and the young infant. Breast-feeding has benefits for both the young infant and the mother. The importance is that, through breast-feeding the young infant would receive the antibodies which are needed to fight infections in his or her early months, which are passed through the mother’s milk. The problem is that young infants who are not breast fed are likely to experience poorer health …show more content…
Working mothers have to manage between their young infant and their job which can be difficult. In the Hispanic community most mothers are not offered maternity leave due to the job they have. Due to this mothers end up leaving their young infants at day care centers or sometimes with a family member. Not being offered maternity leave can make or even prevent a mother from breast-feeding their young infant, since the mother would not be available when the young infant needs to be fed they need to rely on the formulas available to them. Teen mothers on the other hand, are not educated enough about the benefits of breast-feeding and the risks of not feeding young infants breast milk. Usually teen mothers tend to drop out of school which means they are not fully educated or sometimes they might not receive counseling which can be helpful throughout their pregnancy and after birth. Lastly, mothers may not be aware of the rights that are giving to them when it comes to breast-feeding in public …show more content…
Also, as mention previously mothers who work in jobs that are not given maternity leave can as well determine if the young infant is going to be breastfed or not since mothers who are given maternity leave are able to spend time with her young infant, which can make a difference on the young infant’s health. Single mothers who have to work due to not having enough income are the ones who are affected mostly. They cannot risk missing work since they are the primarily source of income. This is proven in the article by Heck, where he mentions that women who are part of the lower socioeconomic status are the ones who less likely to breastfeed their young infant². Heck also mentions that “maternal education and household income” are determine if the young infant would be breastfed². In an article by Smith, it mentions that teen mothers lack the knowledge of breastfeeding³. So in order for young infants to be able to fight a disease or illness, breast milk has to be given to