Breastfeeding is God's own design for infant well being.  When God created Eve, He gave her the ability to supply nourishment for her offspring through her breasts.  In His infinite wisdom, he designed a perfect plan.  No other method can compare to the superiority of nursing.  Breastfeeding not only provides health benefits but emotional and cognitive benefits, as well.

Infants have a genuine need to be near their mothers which is fulfilled through breastfeeding.  Separation between the mother and infant can lead to all kinds of problems later in life due to a poor bond between the two.  Breastfeeding forces a mother to be near her infant.  The mother must spend time holding, cuddling, and bonding with her child while nursing.  This bond is the foundation of discipline later in the child's life.  A child who is firmly attached to his/her parents will want to please them rather than rebel.  The bond between the mother and the child is first and foremost.  A child must develop a healthy relationship with his/her mother before he/she can have healthy relationships with others.
 

Nursing an infant causes all types of neurological stimulation.  The beating of the mother's heart, the warmth of her body, the sound of her rythmic breathing and her gentle voice, the touch of her skin, the taste of her milk, and the sight of her face all arrouse the infants senses.  This kind of stimulation is vital to infant development.  The first three years of life are a window of opportunity for the creation of synapses in the brain.  Stimulation and interaction create these synapsis.  The breastfeeding relationship offers a wonderful oppurtunity for this interaction.  The mother cannot deny her child lap time.  This is probably why the average IQ of breastfed children is nearly 20 points higher than their artificially fed peers.

Breastfeeding causes the mother's body to release certain hormones, sometimes referred to as the "mothering hormoses."  These hormones cause the mother to relax and feel calm.  They also create in her a desire to nurture her child.  They embellish her love for her child.  It is my believe that when mothers abuse their children, it is due to a lack of these hormones (mothers who do not breastfeed do not release as many of these hormones).  The release of these "mothering hormones" is God's way of gently coaxing mothers to feel overwhelming emotions for the children who need their love and protection so dearly.

Mother's milk cannot be synthetically reproduced.  There are more than 500 factors of breastmilk that artificial infant formula companies have not found a way to manufacture.  With over 500 missing factors, how can these companies even compare their product to mother's milk.  Breastmilk and artificial formulas have more dissimilarities than similarities.  A nursing mothers milk changes day by day, hour by hour, even minute by minute according to her child's needs.  This is a system only God could design.  Even if breastmilk could be replicated by human means, there is no way a mother could continually switch the formula to match the needs of her child.  God has made only the mother's body capable of this miricle.

Breastfeeding gives a child natural immunities.  Any immunities the mother has pass to the baby throught the breastmilk.  In some cases, immunities to illnesses the mother has never even been exposed to pass to the baby.  When an infant is exposed to an illness and nurses, signals are sent to the mother's body.  The mother's body begins to produce antibodies to that illness, and the next time the child nurses, these antibodies are present in the milk.  This usually happens before the child even shows symptoms of the illness.  This is one of the many reasons that breastfed infants are healthier than artificially fed infants.

 Bacteria cannot grow in fresh breastmilk.  It's the most sterile substance on earth.  Some dental students did all kinds of experiments trying to get some kind of bacteria to grow in it.  They found it impossible.  For this reason, it is a nice form of tooth decay prevention.  This also means that breastmilk straight from the mother cannot be cantaminated with bacteria as artificial baby milk products can.  Even pumped breastmilk stays fresher for a longer time out of the refrigerator than artificial milk.
 
Breastfeeding leads to lower risks of many types of cancer for both the mother and child.  Women who breastfeed have lower rates of breast and other female cancers.  Non-breastfed infants are 9 times more likely to develop childhood lymphoma.  Breastfed individuals also show lower rates of other childhood cancers and many adult forms of cancer.  It has recently been discovered in a Swedish lab that when every type of cancer tested came in contact with breastmilk, the cancer cells commited suicide.  Scientists are currently searching for a way to use this information in cancer treatment.

Breastfed children are healthier in childhood and adulthood.  Breastfeeding leads to fewer allergies, lowers incidence of colds, ear infections, diarrea, childhood diabetes, etc.  The list goes on and on.  My daughter is six-months-old, exclusively breastfed, and has never had an illness.

Breastfeeding helps the mother lose weight after her pregnancy.   Breastfeeding uses calories.  I actually weigh about five pounds less than I did before I was pregnant.  Nursing also helps the uterus return to its normal size more quickly after the birth and causes less loss of blood after delivery.
 
Breastfeeding keeps a child at his/her ideal weight.  If an infant is allowed to nurse on demand, a mother's body produces the amount of milk needed for her child.  A breastfed child cannot overeat as many artificially fed babies do.