Current Department of Health guidelines urge all mothers to breastfeed their children exclusively for the first six months of life, if they are able to.

Breastfeeding a baby has a number of long-lasting benefits not only for the baby but also for the mother herself. Being a new Mom can be an extremely emotional experience. Breastfeeding your child at the start of this beautiful, life-long relationship goes a long way in strengthening this early bond between the child and the mother. Breastfeeding has also been found to increase long-term immunity of the baby, while reducing the risk of post-partum depression and cancer in the mother.

Mothers could avoid BP: Researchers at the University of North Carolina in the US found that women who gave their babies formula or breastfed for less than three months were almost a quarter more likely to develop blood pressure problems. The American study, of nearly 56,000 women with at least one child, concluded that mothers who breastfed for at least six months were less likely to develop hypertension over a 14 year period than those who bottle fed.

Mothers could avoid Cancer: Women with a family history of breast cancer can cut their risk of developing the disease by breastfeeding, research has found.  However the study found no link between breastfeeding and reduced risk for cancer in those women without a history of breast cancer in their family.

Children well behaved: Breastfed children are more likely to be better behaved, according to an Oxford University-led study. Researchers have found that those who are breastfed for at least four months as babies are 30 per cent less likely to exhibit a range of behavioral problems when they start school

Reduce chances of asthma in children: Breastfeeding brings yet another benefit to children, a new report has found, it can reduce the chances of them developing asthma. Those who are not breastfed are up to 50 per cent more likely to exhibit asthmatic symptoms than those who are, according to a study of more than 5,000 children. Young children never breastfed were 50 per cent more likely to have persistent phlegm and 40 per cent more likely to wheeze regularly.  They also tended to suffer more from shortness of breath and a dry cough in the first four years of life.

Breastfeeding is thus an extremely crucial part of child-raising. It bonds you to your child, plus has a lot of long-term health benefits for the infant and the mother. In addition Breast milk is also full of disease-fighting and immunity-enhancing matter that has a long-term and life-long effect on your baby. It can protect from Illness, Allergies, and Infection.