Breast or Bottle?

Your decision has lifelong consequences for you, your baby, and your life together.

Breastfeeding can be one of the happiest relationships of your whole life; Bottle-feeding is a feeding method

Breastfeeding is immediate, simple, and nearly free; Bottle-feeding needs equipment, preparation, and about $3 perday plus extra medical expenses

Breastfeeding provides a normal start in life; Bottle-feeding is artificial for both mother and baby

Breastfeeding promotes normal jaw development; Bottle-feeding is linked to increased need for dental work

Breastfeeding is the normal follow-up to birth for the mother's body; Bottle-feeding is linked to increased rates of postpartum hemorrhage,
some maternal breast and ovarian cancers, and more closely spaced births

Breastfeeding provides a normal hormonal state for mothering; Bottle-feeding means mothering with low mothering hormones

Breastfeeding lets the baby control his own appetite; Bottle-feeding can lead to overfeeding and later obesity

Breastfeeding saves money for the family; Bottle-feeding makes money for industry and health care services

Human Milk has perhaps 1,000 known ingredients, including:

interferon and white blood cells
antibacterial and antiviral agents
intestinal soothers
readily absorbed nutrients
everything a baby is known to need

Formula has far, far fewer ingredients,

tropical oils
no anti-infective properties
intestinal irritants
poorly absorbed nutrients
microdeficiencies

Human milk offers several kinds of milk at each nursing; Formula is the same throughout a feeding

Human milk changes to meet the baby's changing needs; Formula changes only with manufacturing and preparation errors, which are common

Human milk is non-allergenic; Formula in standard form contains either of 2 common allergens: cow milk or soybeans

Human milk is the human infant's only normal food; Formula tries to approximate what's known about infant needs, at low production cost. Cow milk and soy are used not because they are the best imitation of human milk, but because they are readily available and cost-effective for industry

Human milk promotes normal brain development; Formula is linked to lower intelligence scores

Human milk is always clean, straight from the source; Formula is easily contaminated

Human milk promotes normal health in infancy and beyond; Formula has been linked to increases in many infant illnesses, including SIDS, and to many long-term problems including malocclusion, breast cancer, childhood lymphoma, vision deficits and diabetes

Human milk smells fine going in and coming out; Formula smells... interesting, because it encourages the growth of the wrong bacteria in the baby's intestines

Human milk is simply the sensible start for the world's best baby; Formula doesn't have to be for you and your baby

Breastfeeding. It really does make a world of difference. To both of you. For life.

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