I can't believe I'm about to talk about breast feeding on hacker news but here goes. > there are benefits to both the mother and the child when breastfeeding d

I can't believe I'm about to talk about breast feeding on hacker news but here goes. > there are benefits to both the mother and the child when breastfeeding directly There is data that points this in both directions, and there isn't a lot of agreement in any of it. There is a push for "brest is best", and a LOT of that is based on W.H.O recommendations. These are a direct result of Nestle pushing formula in the third world, and the impact it had on infant mortality. If you live in a place without clean water, then breast feeding is the way to go. This assumes you don't have any communicable diseases, AIDS being the biggest one, but it is a large list of infections that preclude you from breastfeeding. If you live in a first world country, and have access to clean water, and the facility to clean and sterilize bottles, there isn't a BIG gain that is universally agreed on in the research available.