In celebration of
the World's Breastfeeding Week (1-7th August), I put up some interesting and
informative post to help lactating mothers, waiting moms and intending
mothers-to-be be better informed on various issues surrounding human-milk/
breast-feeding.
Topics
will revolve around:
a)
facts about human breast milk during lactation.
b) 3
phase production of human milk
c)
Benefits of Breastfeeding to Child & Mother
d)
Galactagogues (remedies that increase milk production in humans)
e)
common question that hinder breastfeeding and helpful answers.
Setting
the ball rolling, we will begin by treating topics 1& 2 in this current
post. Please do well to subscribe to read up on other topics as well...
Remember,
Human milk is recommended as the optimal nutrition not only for full-term
infants but also for pre-term infants. The World Health Organization recommend
that new-born be exclusively breastfed for 6-months and continued up to 2-years
of age in addition to complementary meals.
FACTS ABOUT HUMAN BREAST MILK DURING LACTATION
-Mean protein content of
human milk gradually decreases from 2nd to 7th month of lactation and
stabilizes after. This is reason why nutritious complementary meals is
introduced to the child after 6-months of exclusive breastfeeding to support
his/ her rapid growing needs.
-Lactose is high between
4th and 7th month of lactation and decreases afterwards.
- Fat content increases
throughout lactation (does this ring a bell why breastfed babies seem to look
overweight/ obese?? smiles) but carbohydrate and protein fraction are not
affected.
-Overweight women have
higher amount of saturated fatty acids & n-6 to n-3 Fatty acids ration
compared to women of normal weight.
- During each
breastfeeding, the first milk is called Fore milk (it is liquid and light in
consistency) and contains more of the carbs and sugar while the Hind milk
(thicker) which flows 15 minutes into feeding the child, contains the fat and
provides satiety to the child.
-Minimum of 25-minutes is
required to feed a infant using one breast at a time.
-When breastfeeding, one
breast should be completely emptied before feeding the infant on the other breast.
-Human Milk is rich in
microRNAs which regulate gene expression.
- Human milk is also rich
in hormones that modulate metabolism & body composition such as insulin,
leptin, adiponectin, ghrelin which prevent early onset of obesity &
metabolic syndrome later in life.
- -Human-milk
is rich in nitrate and nitrite which help to support the gastrointestinal
and immune balance in a neonate.
3 PHASE PRODUCTION OF HUMAN MILK
- COLOSTRUM: This the first milk produced (1-3-days) after child
birth and very essential to a newborn. It is thick and yellow/ orange in
color. It has high concentration of whey protein, low in lactose and fat
content compared to mature milk. It has high concentration of
oligasaccharides, bioactive compounds, antibodies including immunoglobulin
(IgA), lactoferrin and leukocytes. This milk is important because of
protective function on the baby's immune system. Colostrum acts as an
growth promoter due to its high concentration of TGF-B (growth factor) and
colony stimulating factor.
- TRANSITIONAL MILK: This is produced (3-7days) after the colostrum.
- MATURE MILK: This is produced (> &days) after child
birth.
Hope you enjoyed reading this? please share with a friend and
check out my next post on Benefits of Breastfeeding to Child and Mother (see
link https://www.nutrientdoctor.com/2018/08/benefits-of-exclusive-breast-feeding-to.html).
Please leave your comments and share your thoughts.............
REFERENCES
- Fabio M, Maria LG. Human Milk: Composition and Health benefits. Medical and Surgical Pediatrics 2017; 39: 15
Comments
Post a Comment