The Invisible Rewards of Breastfeeding

The Invisible Rewards of Breastfeeding

Mother's milk was the sole food for human newborns from the Stone Age until relatively recently, but contemporary baby formula seems to be a sufficient alternative. After all, rates of newborn mortality in Western cultures are at record lows, and children's physical development seems to be normal. And yet, is that all there is to it? Is it possible that breastfeeding offers benefits beyond those already known to the mother and the child?

Discomfort related to stress after giving birth Even if she's doing what nature intended, laboring for so long is a physically and emotionally draining process for mom. The infant has it rough too! As soon as labor starts, the fluid cushion disappears unexpectedly, in a burst. The baby is then pushed up against the uterine hole and out via a birth canal so small that the baby's head must stretch to fit. It takes about a day for a newborn's head to return to its regular round form.

Pain and stress are alleviated by endorphins, which are naturally occurring chemicals that are chemically similar to morphine. Early milk (colostrum) from moms who give birth naturally contains beta endorphin, but breast milk from mothers who have a C-section (and so avoid a difficult labor) has far less of the compound. Higher amounts are seen in the colostrum of moms who give birth prematurely, whose children may have experienced more stress leading up to and during delivery. So, nature helps make the transition from the safe and secure environment of the womb to the bigger world outside go more smoothly.

The soothing act of nursing an infant speeds recovery. After giving birth, a woman's uterus will continue to contract as it shrinks back to its pre-pregnancy size. This constriction plays an essential role in minimizing maternal blood loss during placental delivery. Sucking on the empty breast accelerates the contraction of the now-empty uterus, but the infant that is placed on the breast during the first hour or two receives nothing except a few drops of colostrum for its work. This may have been very important for early humans to stay alive because it cut down on the amount of blood lost during childbirth.

A breast needs time to mature. Even if a woman who has never given birth to a child could look at her breasts and assume that they are completely developed, this is not the case. Budding in adolescence is the first step in a normal cycle of breast growth that continues until the breasts produce milk. Adolescence is a particularly vulnerable time for breast tissue because of the increased exposure to hormones and other hormone-like substances. That may account for two separate breast cancer findings. To begin with, a higher risk of developing breast cancer is shown in women who started smoking while still teenagers. Second, breastfeeding reduces the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women, at least in the premenopausal years.

How boring is baby formula? The contents of the can of infant formula that Dad grabs off the shelf on the day of the baby's birth are the same as those in the cans he'll give the baby two weeks, two months, or a year later (unless Dad switches brands). Breastmilk is not the same as As a result of the antibodies and living cells in colostrum, a baby is protected from infection and their immune system is given a head start. The mother's breast milk will gradually thin down and become a blue color over the course of the first six weeks and then level out.

Breastmilk really undergoes daily compositional changes up to weaning. The reason for this is that the needs of a growing infant, particularly its brain, change daily. To meet the changing demands of a developing newborn, breastmilk contains hundreds of different substances, each added in a specific order established by nature many thousands of years ago.

The debt of gratitude is mutual. Yummy, it was a treat! However, baby formula with a unique taste, such as mint flavor, is not available in your neighborhood grocery store. That would never get past the men at Quality Control. However, breast milk reveals a lot about a mother's nutrition. It used to be common knowledge among physicians that nursing moms should steer clear of foods like onions, garlic, and other strong flavors. The blame for the bad recommendation lies squarely on my shoulders.

Babies who are introduced to different tastes via their mothers' milk have an easier time transitioning to solid meals than those who are exclusively breastfed. Imagine the stress that would be relieved at the dinner table!

It'll improve your mood, too. Breastfeeding women had a significantly reduced risk of clinical depression in the first year after giving birth, compared to mothers who do not breastfeed. That's not a trivial concern, since over 10% of new mothers have postpartum depression in the first six weeks after giving birth. It's possible that this mental boost is caused by the hormone oxytocin, which is made when you breastfeed and also makes your uterus contract. 

There were no alternatives for feeding in the Paleolithic era, but in the modern day, some moms may have to make the difficult choice of not breastfeeding their babies. These advantages may help sway people who are on the fence.