It is impossible to clearly separate a mother and baby, they are a symbiotic pair, two separate organisms living together as one in a mutually beneficial relationship. Even in terms of basic physiology it is not easy to say when a mother and baby are truly separate. Breastfeeding mothers and their babies, for example, have been found to have the same REM patterns, while mothers and babies who are formula feeding do not.Babies, like all young mammals, do best with milk from their own species. Artificial formulas cannot duplicate nature�s formula. Mother's milk protects the infant against illness for as long as nursing continues.

And in what better way can a baby be nurtured, comforted, and made to feel secure than snuggled within a mother‘s loving arms, against the warmth of her breast. —Kathleen Huggins

Mothers benefit physically and emotionally from breastfeeding in a multitude of ways. A baby’s breastfeeding contracts the mother's womb, and helps her entire body return to its prebirth state. Breastfeeding also causes a woman's body to produce hormones that calm her. Mothers experience lower breast cancer rates (rates drop proportionately with the length of time the mother breastfeeds), and less osteoporosis in later life. Breastfeeding generally lengthens the time before menstrual periods begin.

While we may like to believe otherwise, bottlefeeding mothers can rarely capture the warm feeding relationship so readily facilitated by breastfeeding. I do not want to add to any guilt or distress that mothers who do not breastfeed may feel, but I do believe it is important that we do not pretend that it is the same. Bottlefeeding doesn’t require much—or any—human contact. While initial intentions may be good, convenience-in-the-moment usually wins out; the bottlefed baby generally receives less stroking, caressing, and rocking than the breastfed baby. He is talked to less often and spends more time in the crib. In all likelihood, the baby, when able to hold his own bottle, will be responsible for feeding himself.

---