Today is Earth Day! A day when many focus on doing something green to help the environment. Did you know that breastfeeding is good for the environment? There are many reasons breastfeeding is good for the environment. Let’s discuss a few –
Breastmilk is a renewable resource. Breastmilk is always available and ready to go for your little one. Your body is constantly making more. The process of making and distributing breastmilk substitutes is filled with fossil fuels, plastics, and waste.
Breastfeeding creates less waste for our landfills. This contributes in multiple ways! Not only does breastmilk not require containers for packaging and shipping, which often end up in landfills, but women who breastfeed typically have a delayed return to menses. This means there are fewer feminine hygiene products being added to our landfills every month.
Breastmilk is healthy. You can thank mom for all of those great antibodies that keep you healthy. When babies are breastfed they are typically sick less than their artificially fed counterparts. This means they use fewer antibiotics, fewer medications, and spend less time at doctors offices and hospitals. This is a huge savings of resources for our environment.
Breastfeeding requires less energy. Energy for mom or energy for other resources? Well, both. When you breastfeed your baby there are few bottles to wash and meals to prepare in the early months. Breastmilk substitutes require energy for farming, whether dairy or soy, resources are used in the cultivating of the product. Energy is used to create the product, and to turn it into a powder, and then to get it to the store where you will purchase it. All of that is saved when such products are not used.
Breastfeeding makes everyone happy. The hormones released in breastfeeding, for mother and baby, are mood lifters. Happy moms and babies spread happiness wherever they go.
