Infant feeding

[1] Breastfeeding aids in preventing anemia, obesity, and sudden infant death syndrome, and promoting digestive health, immunity, intelligence, and dental development.

Breastfeeding is rarely contraindicated, but is not recommended for mothers being treated for cancer, those with active tuberculosis, HIV, substance abuse, or leukemia.

Proper infant nutrition demands providing essential substances that support normal growth, functioning, development, and resistance to infections and diseases.

An infant that receives exclusively breast milk for the first six months rarely needs additional vitamins or minerals.

These substitutes, such as milk, juice, and water do not possess what the infant needs to grow and develop, cannot be digested correctly, and have a high risk of being contaminated.

[1] Feeding often is important to promote normal growth and development, and maintain milk production in mothers who are breastfeeding.

Breast milk or infant formula continues to be the primary source of nutrition during these months, in addition to solid foods.

If the infant is allergic to cow's milk, it causes inflammation of the digestive system, resulting in chronic blood loss and decreased absorption of iron.

Breast milk leads to a slower weight gain in early infancy, and is protective against child obesity and development of type 2 diabetes.

When an infant is breastfed, it is exposed to a variety of flavors due to the mother's changing diet reflected in breast milk.

The infantile digestive mucosa is unable to produce antibodies until about ages four through six months old, which makes the infant susceptible to many infections.

[10] Colostrum is a great source of nutrition for a newborn baby; it is a thick yellow fluid that the mother produces first after birth.

[19] One specific protein that breast milk has is lactoferrin, which is bacteriostatic,[10] meaning it prevents the growth of harmful bacteria.

Without this protein, the baby cannot produce the immunity that its body desperately needs, resulting in a higher risk of disease and malnutrition.

[citation needed] Another immunoglobulin breast milk provides to the infant is known as IgG, which provides passive immunity from the mother to her child; this means that antibodies for common childhood diseases—like diphtheria, measles, poliomyelitis, and rubella—are passed onto the infant naturally, if the mother was immunized for these diseases in her lifetime.

[20] Breastfeeding aids in the development of cognitive maturity, which leads to a higher intelligence; however, this only correlated to those children who had been exclusively breastfed.

Importantly, it represents a time where the risk for development of dental caries begins with the eruption of the first baby teeth.

Transition from bottle- or breastfeeding usually coincides with the introduction of solid foods that may contain substances (such as sugars and other carbohydrates) that can cause dental cavities.

The consumption of cow's milk and other non-breast-milk beverages (e.g., juices) at 6 weeks through 12 months of age significantly contributes to dental caries at 5 years old.

Dipping pacifiers in sweetened liquids (such as juice or sugary water) is discouraged due to the risk of developing dental caries.

[3] The nutritional value was still not fully understood, but it was believed that through suckling, the infant gained not only energy, but also the characteristics and personality of whomever it fed from.

Wet-nurses and introducing solid food before the baby turned six months were now opposed, and mortality rates decreased once accepting the value of breastfeeding.

[3] Continuing on into the 19th century, scientists were relating high rates of mortality and undernourishment to the lack of infants being breastfed.

However, in 1847, when the first commercial formula was made, it promoted the use of bottles, partly due to breasts receiving a sexual connotation during this time.

Organizations that took notice came together to promote breastfeeding once again, they included Natural Childbirth Movement, Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative launched by WHO, and United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

In 1990, these organizations pushed to protect and promote the idea, which still is valid and veritable, that "breast milk is the best food for infants".

[3] Factors leading to increased breastfeeding rates recently include facilities encouraging mothers to have skin-to-skin contact with the infant after birth, cultivating the initiation of breastfeeding, and facilities encouraging rooming-in, where the mother can watch for feeding cues with the infant staying in her room.

[1] There are different beliefs and misconceptions pertaining to infant nutrition specifically the topic of breastfeeding among young people and different tribal groups.

For instance, mothers surveyed from Maasai with children ranging in age from newborn to six months believe a mixture of both breast milk and other semisolid supplements can be a more beneficial, nutritious meal for the child.

Zimbabwe has fecal conduction due to bad living conditions such as poor water sanitation and insufficient hydration.