Breast-Feeding Versus

Bottle-Feeding

Today, about three-quarters of Canadian mothers breast-feed their newborns, compared with 38% in 1963. Breast-feeding rates are lower in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec than in the rest of Canada. Those with higher incomes and education and immigrants to Canada are more likely to breast-feed. The most common reason mothers give for breast-feeding is that it is more eneficial for the baby, whereas the most common reason for not breast-feeding is that formula-feeding is easier, since some women find breast-feeding inconvenient or unpleasant. Almost half of those who breast-feed do so for less than three months, with many women discontinuing breast-feeding when they return to the workforce shortly after childbirth. Some choose to share feeding chores with the father, who is equally equipped to prepare and hold a bottle, but not of course to breast-feed. Breast-feeding reduces the general risk of infections to the baby by transmitting the mother’s antibodies to the baby. Breast-feeding also reduces the incidence of allergies in babies, particularly in allergy-prone infants. On other hand, HIV (the AIDS virus) can be transmitted to infants via breast milk. According to UN estimates, one-third of the infants with HIV around the world were infected via breast milk. Moreover, when undernourished mothers in developing countries breast-feed their babies, the babies too become malnourished.