With my first son I formula fed. So I attended a 2 hour breast feeding session on Saturday and found…

With my first son I formula fed. So I attended a 2 hour breast feeding session on Saturday and found it very informative. Some of the things I learnt:

- when baby is born he is filled with lots of rubbish that he has swallowed from the amniotic sack. Mums first milk works as a laxative to clear him out and get things running smoothly.

- At birth your babies tummy is the size of a pickled onion. They need milk little and often. Formula milk is very heavy and stretches the stomach and stodges the baby out. Increasing their level of sleep and decreasing their awareness of "feeling full". Consequently increasing the likelihood of future over eating and obesity!

- breast milk regulates it's self. (Watery for first few minutes and thicker consistency the longer the baby suckles. Therefore the baby can choose when to stop feeding (eg after a little drink or after a meals worth). Unlike formula where we always give them a meals worth every time!

- breast milk regulates itself with regards to nutrient provision depending on the developmental stage of your baby. Therefore, the baby will produce less waste (smelly poops) because he is using all of the nutrients up. Where as with formula it's the same components regardless of what development stage baby is at.

- increased bonding, more eye contact and skin to skin than feeding with formula.

I could this really interesting, more benefits and things to consider with formula than I first thought.