Breastfeeding the Premature Infant

When your baby is born prematurely, you're undoubtedly worried and concerned for his health and well-being above all else. You want to do everything in your power to ensure that he grows up healthy and strong. One of the most important things you can do for your preemie's health is to breastfeed, yet many mothers of premature babies are discouraged from breastfeeding. Many doctors recommend that mothers of preemies give their babies special preemie formula, insisting that this formula is better equipped to nourish their baby's unique needs. But this is far from the truth. Premature infants need breastmilk even more than babies born at full-term.

Extra calories

When your baby is born prematurely, your body knows. Your body will compensate by making extra-rich breastmilk full of all the nutrition that your premature baby needs. Studies have shown that the milk produced by the mother of a premature infant is significantly different from that produced by the mother of a baby born at full-term.

Antibodies

Premature infants are especially susceptible to infection. Breastmilk is rich in antibodies that boost a baby's immune system and help him fight the germs that are bombarding him each day. Sometimes this extra immunity can be an absolute life-saver for a premature baby.

Extra nutrients

Breastmilk contains the exact combination of nutrients that a baby needs. This is especially true for premature babies. Infant formula contains synthetic replicas of many of these nutrients, and in many cases, these nutrients aren't well-utilized by the body. (Case in point: the iron in formula is not as easily absorbed as the iron in breastmilk, often resulting in constipation and anemia as well as other digestive problems.) There are many nutrients in breastmilk that have not yet been duplicated in a lab, and it is estimated that there are still hundreds more that have not yet even been identified, let alone replicated. By feeding your premature infant formula, you will deprive him of many of the nutrients that his body needs to develop to his fullest potential.

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