Breastfeeding: Health benefits and dietary recommendations

Abstract

Breastfeeding is a natural way of feeding a newborn as it provides all the essential nutrients necessary for appropriate growth and development. Also, it is a delicate period when the emotional and physical connection between mother and child is created, providing the child with a sense ofsecurity, relaxation, and tenderness. Under that, the devotion of institutions and various associations to raise social and health awareness and promote the importance of breastfeeding is constantly increasing. World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of an infant’s life, which provides the child many short- and long-term benefits. When talking about benefits, the emphasis is put primarily on the wellbeing of the child, while the focus on the needs of a nursing mother should be of equal importance. The period of lactation and breastfeeding demands the mother’s greater energy intake than the period of the last three-semester of pregnancy to meet all micro- and macronutrient needs of mother and child. The volume and the composition of milk, respectively the quality of infant’s nutrition, partially depends on the quality of the mother’s nutrition, and partially on the mother’s physical supplies from which nutrients are being compensated in the case of a dietary deficit. To avoid the negative effects of lactation and breastfeeding on the nutritional and health status of the mother in upcoming periods of life, it is crucial to give special attention to various, balanced, and energy-satisfying nutrition. Although the primary goal is to achieve the recommended intake of all essential nutrients by food intake, in cases of unbalanced nutrition, health limitations, or practicing restrictive diets, the use of dietary supplementation is needed. Because of the biological needs and fortified deficits, in dietary supplements for pregnant women could often be found iron, calcium, zinc, iodine, folate, and vitamins B12, C and D.