Abstract: importance of breastfeeding

Aims: To identify the effects on child health, growth and development and on maternal health and benefits for both the child and the mother and the consequences that theseentail.
Methods: One hundred puerperal women was selected randomly from a hospital in the metropolitan region of Chile, of which at fifty is instructed them to breastfeed their childexclusively breastfed for six months and after that incorporate other types of food. In the remaining fifty puerperal women were told to feed their children with what they deemedappropriate. It followed up the cases and after one year were analyzed various aspectsof child health and mother.
Results: Children fed breast milk exclusively for six months were less likely to developgastrointestinal illnesses and respiratory rate, compared to children who were notexclusively breastfed during the same period. Mothers who were exclusively breast forsix months had regained weight before pregnancy more quickly than those who were notexclusively breastfed. You can observe a stronger bond of mother to child in women whowere exclusively breastfed. Instead mothers were not exclusively breastfed had a highernumber of visits to health centers for gastrointestinal and respiratory infections of theirchildren.
Conclusion: A good breastfeeding in the first months of life, without other food, issufficient for optimal physical, in terms of developing your digestive system, respiratoryand immune systems, preventing disease at a young age, and also strengthens tiesbetween mother and child by encouraging their psychosocial development.
Keywords: child health, breast feeding, gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases.

Importance of breastfeeding

If all children were exclusively breast fed from birth, would be saved each year about 1.5 million lives. And these not only save lives but improve their current conditions, because breast milk is the perfect food for the child during the first six months of life in an exclusive and up to two years in a complementary manner. This is due to its wide variety of components that serve both for nutrition, immune system development and in general the body of the newborn. Also ensures the growth, development and intelligence of the child and a good bond with his mother.