The WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life, and from that moment complement it with solid foods until two years or more, as long as mom and baby wish.
A false myth about breast milk is that it "no longer feeds" over time, but this is not true. The Breastfeeding provides the nutrients that the baby needs at all times and also, by prolonging it, it favors the maturation of areas related to intelligence.
This has been demonstrated by different studies conducted with neuroimaging techniques, which have also shown that Oxytocin plays a fundamental role in the period of breastfeeding between mother and child.
According to Dr. Ibone Olza, child psychiatrist at the Puerta de Hierro University Hospital in Majadahonda (Madrid),
"The pulsatile release of this hormone produces in the mother feelings of love towards her child, as well as of well-being, confidence or self-esteem and in the infant it produces relaxation, serenity and a greater interest in social relations."
The elevation of oxytocin levels in the baby's brain, in turn, implies a series of neuroanatomic changes that last over time and allow, when adulthood, the attachment attitude is replicated To his descendants.
On the other hand, prolonged breastfeeding facilitates a better understanding of language and spatial vision. In this sense, children fed breast milk for a longer time are more easily at executive functions, planning, social and emotional intelligence and language and increases your interest in social relationships.
With breastfeeding all are advantages, and the more time can be given, the better. When it is not possible and breastfeeding has to be artificial, pediatricians recommend that bottle-fed babies receive the stimulation and interaction that breastfeeding provides to facilitate healthy development.
They advise Let only the mother be the one in the bottle and if it is not possible, try that are only two or three people, always the same, those that take care of their food. They suggest massaging, carrying the baby, tickling and cuddling to promote the release of the same beneficial substances that breastfeeding produces.
