In terms of health benefits to your baby (and you), few things will beat breastfeeding.

Studies have shown breastmilk can prevent many allergies, support cognitive development and even help babies fight infections. As well as this, researchers are only now beginning to realise just how important breastfeeding is when it comes to decreasing the rates of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). At the University of Virginia in the US, researchers found that when babies are breastfed for at least two months, their risk of SIDS is cut almost in half. And even more amazing? The longer a baby is breastfed for, the more protected against SIDS she is. The study, which involved more than 9000 infants from across the globe, looked at the benefits of breastmilk –and also discovered that even if a baby also receives some formula milk, this makes no difference at all, as long as they are also getting fed breastmilk alongside this. "The other important finding from our study is that any amount of breastfeeding reduces the risk of SIDS," explains Fern Hauck, who was the lead author of the study. "In other words, both partial and exclusive breastfeeding appear to provide the same benefit." The WHO and most medical experts globally today recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life and then continuing to breastfeed (along with introducing other foods) until the baby is at least a year old.