I’ll be the first to admit that I did not really know much about breastmilk when I started breastfeeding bub no1. All I knew was that I wanted to try it out and was encouraged to do so by my colleagues, my gynaecologist and the paediatrician.

I’ve definitely come a long way from then and would just like to share a few insights on breastmilk – so here goes…

• breastmilk is by far superior to any and all infant formulas, it IS the Gold Standard for human infant nutrition- formulas are ony superficial replicas of breastmilk, they in no way contain all the nutrients available in breastmilk nor do they deliver the common nutrients to the baby’s bloodstream as effectively.
• to this very day, medical journals are still describing new discoveries on valuable substances found in human milk. Scientists are only just beginning to write on other factors in breastmilk that may be important to baby’s growth and development.
• every deficiency in formula milk that is rectified is marketed as an advance or breakthrough in infant nutrition…even I was wondering about the DHAs recently advertised to be included in formulas. Hello! These are all components of breastmilk
• breastmilk is a ‘live’ substance which contain enzymes, hormones,antibodies and living cells (white blood cells) all of which aid in baby’s development. These are all notably absent in infant formulas.

There is just so much more information on the goodness of breastmilk. You can read a bit more about it here and look at a comparison with formula here. I really feel that there is a lack of awareness when it comes to breastfeeding. It is still more the exception than the norm amongst most mothers to breastfeed totally for the first 6 months of their baby’s life.

Well, if you knew that you were paying premium prices for an inferior product, would you still buy it? Especially when one that is proven to be THE best in its class is practically free?