I'm Stephen Buescher, an infectious disease specialist at the Center for Pediatric Research, a joint program of Eastern Virginia Medical School and Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters. Today, we know that human milk is an extremely sophisticated food for the infant. Breastfeeding is the only feeding method that supplies the human infant with both the nutritional and protective factors that optimize growth and provide protection against clinical illnesses. Studies at Eastern Virginia Medical School focus on what the protective components in milk are , which infectious illnesses they protect against, how they achieve protection, and why protection against infection is beneficial to the breast-fed infant . We now know that antibodies in milk protect the baby against intestinal infection caused by many different microorganisms.
Human milk contains natural antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds .
Breast-fed infants also appear to have better protection against childhood infections. Breast-feeding offers practical benefits . Providing calories to the infant through breast milk decreases the calories available to the mother, thereby enhancing the mother's return to her pre-pregnancy weight . It also decreases the mother's risk of developing some types of breast cancer. Lactation consultants are readily available for mothers without experienced advisers or help among family members or friends.