I would like to celebrate and explore the health benefits of the original home-made meal.

The first food that we receive on entering the world is breast milk; a food so perfectly balanced to provide nutrition, hydration, and protection that it is impossible to replicate synthetically. Breast milk confers many health benefits to babies and feeding mothers, and yet it has been suggested by the World Health Organisation that it is one the of the worlds most underused resources, and that reversing the decline in breastfeeding could save 1.5 million lives every year. Many women in the West choose not to breast feed, experience difficulties, or are unable to feed easily after returning to work. In the rest of the world, women may be encouraged by unscrupulous formula companies, or by perceptions of western culture, to believe that their babies will be healthier and happier on western-style baby formulas, and that breastfeeding is an out-dated and impoverished practice. However, breast feeding confers a multitude of health benefits to both mother and baby;

Breastfeeding supports the immune system of the child. Some benefits last while the child is being breast fed as the baby