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Excerpt from the introduction to Chapter 18, "Human Milk for Human Babies"

In the nearly half century since La Leche League was founded, science has learned a great deal about human milk and its role in babies' growth and development. Research has shown that human milk is far more than good food. It is a living fluid that protects babies from disease and actively contributes to the development of every system in baby's body. Human infants are relatively immature at birth, and feeding at mother's breast is nature’s way of bridging the developmental gap between growing in the protective environment of the womb and being able to survive out in the world.

Breastfeeding plays a critical role in nature’s plan for ensuring that human babies survive and grow. Feeding at mother's breast nourishes babies and provides the raw materials they need in order to develop in the way that nature intended. As science learns more about the complex ingredients in human milk and the ways in which mother’s body is attuned to the needs of her breastfeeding infant, it becomes very clear that artificial feeding—formula feeding—is a substantial departure from nature's plan. While babies fed infant formula do grow and develop adequately, manufactured infant formula does not promote optimal growth and development as does the milk designed by nature for human babies.

This chapter describes the many ways in which human milk and the whole process of breastfeeding play key roles in babies' development and well-being. Common sense has long dictated that milk made by mother herself is superior to manufactured substitutes, and a growing collection of scientific evidence fully supports this conclusion. Breastfeeding is not just an "extra" that you may or may not choose to give your baby. It is more than a few added vitamins or health-boosting antibodies. Human milk is the key to good health and development for human infants. Breastfeeding is every baby's birthright. After all, babies are born to breastfeed!