Breast or bottle? Which really is best?

Ultimately the best way to feed your baby is the way that ensures he gets a proper feed. If you still haven't made you mind up how you'll feed your newborn here are the main advantages and disadvantages of each.

Breastfeeding

Advantages

• Good for baby - Your breast milk is designed by nature to give your baby everything he needs and nothing that he doesn't need. Breastfeeding is the natural extension of the nutrition you provided for your baby in the womb and your milk changes according to your baby's needs. The colostrum of the first couple of days contains important antibodies to help your baby stave off infections. Breast milk is believed to have at least 100 ingredients that are not found in cow's milk and which cannot be recreated artificially for formula milk.
• Protection - Breastfeeding doesn't only offer your baby protection against disease in the early days, there's also evidence that breastfed babies are less likely to develop any allergies that they are genetically prone to and less likely to develop infant illnesses. Breastfeeding may also reduce the likelihood of your baby developing childhood diseases
• Bonding - There's nothing more intimate than breastfeeding for both mother and baby. Feeding offers valuable time of skin-to-skin and eye-to-eye contact: your baby will be comforted and reassured by the smell and touch of your own body, a body he's not yet aware of being physically separated from
• Feel good - Breastfeeding prompts your body to release love hormones that make you feel happy and relaxed - though it may not feel like it at times when you're struggling to settle into a feed with your baby!
• Convenient - There are both inconveniences and conveniences with breastfeeding, on the positive side you don't need to carry round an assortment of feeding accessories with you wherever you go, you've got all you need yourself
• Reducing colic - Breastfed babies are likely to be less colicky as babies swallow less air when fed by breast
• Returning to mum to shape - There's been a lot made breastfeeding helping mum get back into shape recently, and while it's not the magic answer to shedding all those pregnancy pounds, it is true that breastfeeding stimulates the uterus to shrink back to it's pre-pregnancy size more quickly
• Contraceptive effect - To make sure that your body gets a rest after having a baby women who breastfeed regularly several times a day will have their periods return much later than women who don't breastfeed - usually after they wean their baby. Make sure you read up about contraception after birth before you rely entirely on this for contraception though

Disadvantages

• Breast problems - Breastfeeding isn't necessarily problem-free, you may have trouble with sore or cracked nipples, engorged and painful breasts and mastitis. All of these are uncomfortable for the mother and mastitis will require treatment, but it's quite common and can be treated effectively
• Dietary restrictions - As you are continuing as your baby's source of nutrition you have to be careful about your own nutrition and continue to avoid certain food and limit your intake of others, eg. alcohol and caffeine
• Hormonal instability - Breastfeeding releases hormones that make you feel good, but the continuing fluctuation in hormones after pregnancy can also play havoc with your emotions
• Inconvenience - While in some ways breastfeeding is incredibly convenient in that you can in large part dispense with hauling around bottles and sterilising equipment everywhere you go, it's less convenient when you're not at home and trying to find a suitable quiet place to feed. Breastfeeding may also make you feel a little trapped as your breasts are in frequent demand
• Dads - Breastfeeding is obviously something that dad can't take part in and he may feel left out (though probably not at 3.30 in the morning when baby's demanding a feed), to compensate for this you can express milk with a breast pump so dad can bottle feed your baby while you get chance to be somewhere else for a change
• Sex - Some mothers find that they have lower libido when breastfeeding and it may interfere with your sex life in other ways, for instance by changing the way you view your breasts

Bottle feeding

Advantages

• Involving dad - If you decide to bottle feed your baby the your partner will be able to get involved right from the start
• Convenience - If you're out and about with your baby it's generally easier to find a suitable place for a feed
Less discomfort - After the first few days when your milk comes in and engorges your breasts painfully your breasts will return to normal and you'll be spared the possible physical discomforts of pregnancy such as sore nipples and swollen breasts
• Your breasts are your own - Some women feel uncomfortable with the idea of breastfeeding, although it's completely natural, and with bottle feeding the role of your breasts isn't redefined

Disadvantages

• Time- Sterilising bottles and mixing formula is more complicated than simply putting your baby to the breast, but if you're advance-planning is good it shouldn't take you too long to make up the feeds for the day
• Equipment - You'll need to carry about the feeding paraphernalia with you wherever you go with your baby
• Health - Bottle feeding isn't bad for your baby, he will still get all the nutrients he needs from the specially -designed formula, but your baby will miss out on the extra benefits of breast milk, like the antibodies it contains and essential fatty acids.

The ThinkBaby verdict