Describe the benefits and problems associated with breastfeeding.

Answers will vary. Breastfeeding has many benefits for both the infant and the mother. As the infant matures, the composition of breast milk changes to help meet the infant's changing needs. The antibodies in breast milk help the infant ward off a variety of health problems ranging from ear infections, pneumonia, wheezing, bronchiolitis, and tetanus to chicken pox, bacterial meningitis, and typhoid fever. Breast milk also helps protect against childhood lymphoma and decreases the likelihood of developing serious cases of diarrhea. Infants who are nourished by breast milk are less likely to develop allergic responses and constipation and also obesity later in life. Breastfeeding mothers have a reduced risk of early breast cancer and ovarian cancer. Breastfeeding women also tend to have stronger bones than those who did not breastfeed, leading to reduced rates of hip fracture and osteoporosis. Breastfeeding helps shrink the uterus after childbirth. There are downsides to breastfeeding. For example, breast milk is one of the bodily fluids that transmit HIV. As many as one-third of infants born to mothers who are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, become infected during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding. Alcohol, many drugs, and environmental hazards such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) can also be transmitted through breast milk. Moreover, for breast milk to contain the necessary nutrients, mothers must be adequately nourished themselves. The mother also encounters the physical demands of producing and expelling milk, a tendency for soreness in the breasts, and the inconvenience of being continually available to meet the infant's feeding needs.