Breast Milk Chronicles: The Power of Breastfeeding for Stronger Bonds

Jul 27

I am that classic “type-A” personality who finds comfort in knowing what is coming down the pike. Knowledge is power! So, when I was pregnant and waiting nine long months for my little one, I figured I should spend that time wisely and educate myself on everything I can in preparation for his arrival. I have to admit, breastfeeding and pumping were “up there” with areas I knew nothing about initially. So, I spent a ton of time reading up on everything I could on the topic of breast milk to mentally prepare myself for what I anticipated might be a long and perhaps tricky journey.

This is a culmination of everything I have learned about breast milk, nursing, and pumping. I’ll break up topics into a series of posts for organization and to help make it more digestible. The outline will be the following:

Part 1 - The Power of Breastfeeding for Stronger Bonds

Part 2 - Know Your Milks and When To Use Them

Part 3 - The Many Benefits of Choosing to Formula Feed

Part 4 - How To Feed Your Baby When They Won't Latch

Part 5 - Is Breast Truly Best? Surprising Advice to Make the Right Choice

Please know, I am not going to shame anyone who can’t or chooses not to breastfeed. This series is for educational purposes, meant for anyone who just wants to learn more. Everyone’s breastfeeding journey is different and incurs different struggles. There are enough pressures in the world, shaming moms who formula feed and telling moms what they should or shouldn’t do with their baby, their body, and their child raising journey.

For those who are planning to breastfeed, know it is tough and requires a ton of patience, persistence, and emotional resilience. That being said, in my opinion, it is 1000% worth it and nothing compares to the feeling of providing everything your baby needs.

There are a TON of benefits to breast milk (which I will get into), but honestly, those benefits are most likely short term. There is no possible way to have an accurate study on the long-term effects of breastfeeding versus formula feeding in children. So please don’t add to the stress of having and raising a baby by forcing breastfeeding if it just isn’t right for your situation.

With that, I will get off my soapbox to get started with our Breast Milk Chronicles!

The Choice is Yours!

The days of moms having no choice but to breastfeed their babies are thankfully behind us. With formulas becoming so similar compositionally to breast milk, the option to breastfeed has become more of a choice these days. It’s wonderful for moms and families to look at their individual situation and discuss what would be the best for them in providing nutrition for their baby. Although the decision to breastfeed may be mostly nutritionally focused, a big portion that should also be weighed in the breastfeeding decision is the overall experience and emotional bonding that forms with breastfeeding.

Early Bonding

It’s the most natural thing to happen right after you give birth. As long as the baby and Mom don’t have medical obstacles, the medical team hands you your baby and you immediately start skin-to-skin with your newborn. I remember that moment myself. If I close my eyes, I can almost relive how it felt; my heart almost burst for how in love I was with the fresh newborn that was placed in my arms.

It’s well established that skin-to-skin has so many amazing benefits for both baby and parent. It regulates heart rate and breathing, helps calm both the baby and the parent, and builds the foundation of a connecting bond between parent and baby.That is part of why breastfeeding, although not without its challenges, is a journey so many women wish to embark on with their baby!

Bonding through Breastfeeding

Bonding can (and usually does) start well before the baby leaves the womb, but one way many women have reported bonding with their baby is through breastfeeding. When you breastfeed your baby, the skin-to-skin triggers a cascade of hormones, like oxytocin, often referred to as the "love hormone." Oxytocin promotes feelings of warmth, love, and attachment in both the mother and the baby, establishing a strong emotional bond right from the start.

Additionally, breastfeeding encourages a heightened level of communication between the mother and the baby. As the baby nurses, they make eye contact with their mother, fostering a strong visual connection. The mother, in turn, develops a familiarity with the subtle cues and signals of her baby's hunger, satisfaction, and emotional state. This heightened awareness and responsiveness create a harmonious cycle of interaction, where the mother and the baby learn to understand and respond to each other's needs.

Not only is this amazing for caring for the baby, but this sensitivity to the child’s needs, feelings and cues has evidence to extend well past the breastfeeding years. In 2017, a group at the American Psychological Association studied 1,272 families over the course of 10 years and found that women who breastfed their children, and breastfed for a long amount of time, showed more maternal sensitivity well past the infant and toddler years.

It’s not all about the Boob

For many moms, breastfeeding is a mixed bag of success, and sometimes bottle feeding is simply the best solution for their family. That’s great for them! It gives dads and other family members a chance to have a bonding experience with the baby that would otherwise fall solely on the mom. But, without the skin-to-skin, how does the bonding experience compare for bottle feeding?

As it turns out there have been studies conducted to try to determine this exact answer. A 2003 study by the National Institute of Mental Health reviewed the journey of 570 mother-infant pairs. They monitored how each pair’s feeding styles (either breastfed or bottle fed) may have effects on the relationship that develops over their baby’s first year.

For all those bottle feeding families, like mine, I have encouraging news. Although, breastfeeding pairs built a high quality bond after the first year of a baby’s life, the relationships built by bottle feeding pairs were also of strong quality too.

They don’t go so far as to determine a preference or try to quantify anything past what the data shows, but to my interpretation, it confirms my opinion that breastfeeding is a choice. It is an amazing experience, but an experience that you can choose to have or not, without fear that your baby will love you any differently one way or the other. Even the 2017 study that determined breastfeeding mothers exhibit maternal sensitivity past the infant and toddler years couldn’t rule out that there was more at play than simply the breastfeeding component. As amazing as breastfeeding is, there certainly could be some amazing benefits, but you aren’t risking a better bond or stronger maternal instincts if you choose to forgo it.

It’s so human to have bonding moments over food and nutrition. For children and adults, those memory-building moments are usually around a dinner table. For a parent and baby, it’s going to be that moment you’re able to share over a bottle of breast milk or formula.