This blog is almost 3 years old and I’ve only written about nursing once. I believe it is one of the most important things you can do for your child, so I’m adding another post about it.
Recently, I recommended the book Real Food for Mothers and Babies by Nina Planck. Now I’d like to borrow some information from her chapter on nursing. It really confirms why I believe babies shouldn’t just be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months of life, but why you should also consider nursing past one year. I nursed my first son until 15 months, my second until 21, and plan to nurse my third until as close to 2 years as I can. In addition to being the best possible nutrition for baby, there are many benefits to extended nursing for ME: I don’t have to worry as much about what he eats (one or two nursing sessions a day are my form of insurance against lazy mothering), I stay skinny, I reduce my chances of having breast cancer, and I get extra bonding time with my child. Here are some other amazing facts about nursing:
- Even a small amount of formula, or other food, in baby’s digestive tract causes bacteria to set up camp. These bacteria resemble the kind found in an adult stomach, not infant, and leave baby more vulnerable to infection.
- Oligosaccharides, or milk sugars, in human milk are indigestible to baby but they are great for the good bacteria in her intestines. There are at least 130 known oligosaccharides in human milk and none in formula. In addition to encouraging the development of good bacteria in her gut, they also head to the respiratory tract, where they fight pathogenic microbes.
- “The immunity breast milk provides is tailored, reflecting the unique ecology you and your baby share. Within hours of encountering a pathogen, you produce antibodies which you pass to your baby through your milk. That’s why it’s natural for mothers to nuzzle, rub, kiss, and even lick their babies. You gather her germs with your mouth and skin, so that your breasts can make the antibodies she needs.” I find this so amazing!!
- Breast milk has immunity agents that promote the normal growth of the thymus gland, which is part of the immune system. Formula fed babies have abnormally small thymus glands, which may explain why they typically have more immune disorders than babies that were breast fed.
- Breast milk’s antibodies coat the lining of the nose, lungs, and intestines, so most germs that get inhaled or swallowed are killed.
- Breast fed babies also have extra protection against arthritis, asthma, eczema, immune system cancers such as lymphoma, Crohn’s disease, colitis, Hodgkin’s disease, breast cancer, obesity, diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
- Breast milk deposits calcium and phosphorus onto baby’s teeth while he nurses, protecting them from decay.
- When a nursing mother laughs, melatonin levels in her milk rise. People with eczema tend to have less melatonin.
- Breast milk can contain persistant organic pollutants (POPs), like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). A study in Michigan found that while PCBs in cord blood resulted in lower IQ scores in children, above-average levels of PCBs in breast milk did not. Perhaps breast milk offers some protection against POPs?
- Trans fats in mom’s diet enter her milk, where they disrupst fat metabolism, disable prostaglandins, and cause atherogenesis, all of which contribute to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. Studies have found that trans fats make up anywhere from 2 to 18% of human milk. Don’t let trans fats replace good fats in your breast milk. Avoid them while pregnant and nursing.
- The pesticides and trans fats you eat while pregnant get stored in your body fat. The faster you loose this fat while nursing, the more pesticides and trans fats baby drinks. The longer you nurse, the cleaner your milk becomes. Subsequent children drink less contaminated milk than first borns.
- Your baby’s brain is only 25% of its full grown size when he is born. Basically, delaying brain growth in utero is the only way baby can get out alive. The human fetus holds brain growth to the size of your pelvis, and then depends on breast milk to grow like crazy in the first year of life.
- The more DHA (one of the most important omega-3 fats) in your breast milk, the better your baby’s intellectual, visual, and motor skills. When mothers take cod liver oil during pregnancy and the first 3 months of baby’s life (aka the 4th trimester), breastfed babies score higher on intelligence tests at four years than the babies of mothers who consume corn oil.
- A nursing mother who eats fish has 10 times more DHA in her milk than one who doesn’t.
- Baby prefers to take DHA, 60-80% of it, from mother’s fat rather than from her diet, which can very wildly. Mothers keep EPA and DHA fats in gluteofemoral depots, basically in your butt and thighs. During nursing, this hard to burn fat is selectively mobilized (nice!) Interestingly, the male preference for women with small waists and bigger hips is widespread and consistent (and even takes precedence over thinness). In 2008, a study found that curvier women have smarter babies. It has been hypothesized that men instinctually know this and that is why they want curvy women to bear their children. In support of this theory, studies have found that curvy women are smarter, even after accounting for family income, race, and ethnicity.
