Breastfeeding is Good for the Environment, Baby, and You
Much attention is given to the countless pros of breastfeeding for baby and parents. But have you ever considered why breastfeeding is good for the environment?
Human milk has everything a baby’s body needs—a perfect blend of calories, nutrients, and antibodies. Breastfeeding also provides benefits to the mother, including reduced rates of breast and ovarian cancer later in life.
Besides protecting the health of mothers and babies (and being free!), breastfeeding has an inherent way of protecting the health of our planet as a whole.
Breast milk comes in the most eco-friendly packaging imaginable. By contrast, the packaging and production of infant formula consumes resources and contributes to our growing landfills.
If every baby in the US were fed infant formula from birth, the packaging alone would require more than 100,000 tons of metal and nearly 1,500 tons of paper.
The manufacturing of plastic feeding bottles also consumes significant petroleum, and it takes hundreds of years for these bottles to break down in landfills.