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Advantages of Breastfeeding An important decision all parents make is how they will feed their baby. Comfort with what is familiar to us and common in our own culture often influences our decision. Yet many parents wish to provide their baby with the best possible start in life, including the optimal feeding relationship perfected over the millennia for human babies. Although most people have heard that “breast is best”, few are aware of the extent of the advantages that breastfeeding provides the entire family. Human milk is all that healthy babies need from birth through the first half-year of life, and should remain a significant part of baby’s diet for many more months beyond. A breastfeeding infant receives ideal nutrition and numerous health promoting factors that vary throughout each feeding and as babies needs change. Breast milk increases in fat content during each feeding. Babies get to experience different tastes as human milk may be flavored by the foods mother eats, enhancing later food acceptance. Components of breast milk are uniquely designed for the significant growth that a baby’s nervous system undergoes. Fatty acids, lactose, and cholesterol are important to the developing brain, which is only