“Breastfeeding is an unparalleled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of newborns; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for maternal health” Statement from the World Health Organization publication on the nutrition of exclusive breastfeeding. The first years of life are the most crucial years for the brain, immune system and overall physiological development. This is why it is extremely important to achieve optimal nutritional standards in these early years. Studies have shown that optimal nutrition during childhood can lead to profound benefits throughout a person's life. Breastfeeding is widely recommended, as the best way to achieve a more advantageous start for newborns, from the multifunctional aspect of both nutrition and increased protection against infectious agents. Breastfeeding is a natural phenomenon and has numerous benefits for both the baby and the mother. associated with it. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life. Breastfeeding is an instinctive nature of all mammals and provides the offspring with pure, healthy and nutritious food. Therefore, mothers and babies are genetically designed to take advantage of this natural process. Human studies have shown that breastfeeding infants for even the first 3 months can have favorable health impacts for many years afterward. However, the benefits do not only concern the baby: it has been shown that breastfeeding shows many beneficial effects, both transient and prolonged, in the mother too. Breast milk is produced solely by the mother for her baby's consumption. This means it is produced with...... middle of paper ......lifelong repercussions such as allergies and autoimmunity. This is considered one of the fundamental advantages that breast milk possesses because it is exclusive to breast milk and duplication of these factors in formula or animal milk is currently unattainable. In recent years the government and health organization are coming together to try to promote breastfeeding after the significant decline observed over the last quarter of a century. Since March 2007 a mother has been entitled to 26 weeks of maternity leave. Upon returning to work, if the mother continues to breastfeed her baby, the law provides that the breastfeeding worker is entitled to one hour of absence from work each day, as a paid break for breastfeeding. This is a great project to promote breastfeeding, however much more needs to be done to make breastfeeding your baby a social norm once again..