Breast Milk Composition

Breast Milk - nothing but a perfect combination of all the essential nutrients that a baby needs for its growth and development. Breastfeeding is also a way to bond with the baby, makes the baby feel secured, improves immunity and provides comfort. For the mother breastfeeding can be psychologically and physically challenging. Breast feeding is not just the job of the mothers but supporting the mother and creating a supportive environment is the vital responsibility of the family, friends and society. Research has proven how breastfed children are less likely to be overweight, obese or develop type two diabetes later in life. Breastfed children also perform better in the intelligence tests.

Breast Milk passes on antibodies that help to protect babies from diarrhoea, pneumonia and common cause of child mortality. There are thousands of bioactive molecules in breast milk that help to protect infants from infection, inflammation, promote immune system growth, organ development and healthy microbial colonisation in the digestive tract.

Mothers also experience benefits of breastfeeding, it reduces risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer, type 2 diabetes myelitis and postpartum depression. This is the most easy and natural way to create health for both baby and mother.

The magical thing about breast milk is that its composition changes throughout the day and over time. Right after birth the first milk is Colostrum, it is thick and yellow and is rich in immunological and growth factors. The mature milk's composition is protein, fat and lactose.

The last feeds of the day will contain 2-3 times more fat compared to the earlier feeds of the day. This is to satiate the baby for a longer sleep during the night. The mothers diet will influence the quality of the milk, mainly the composition of fatty acid profile. Long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids have a negative impact on the fatty acid profile of milk, the preferred source of fat used in mothers diet should be saturated fat which also contains a healthy balance of omega3 and omega6 fatty acids. This will reflect in the milk. The vitamin levels also will be a direct reflection of mothers diet during breast feeding.

Breast Milk is high in fat (55%) moderate in carbohydrates (39%) and low in protein (6%). WHO agrees that the infants should be given nothing but breastmilk for the first 6 months, and the baby should be mainly fed on breastmilk for the first year of life and should continue upto two years or beyond.

Optimal Nutrition in the first 24 months is very crucial and the nutrient density of the food consumed by the mother and the infant is the key to a healthy, disease free future of the baby and the mother. It is essential to priorities and focus on the foods that will assist the brain to develop. Example of such nutrient dense food are eggs, cheese, organ meat, ghee, brains, marrow, broccoli, spinach, green veggies, nuts, butter, coconut oil, avacado, seeds, dark berries, shell fish, oysters, sardines, etc.

The medical & scientific focus in the 20th century was heavily focussed on finding out the micronutrients, and because of this, we have been looking for the secret of health, longevity & disease free life. By examining the nutrients of breastmilk we now know the benefits of breastfeeding and we also know that the infants who grow up drinking formula milk have a weaker immune system compared to exclusively breast fed infants and formula fed infants are also more prone to certain diseases later in life like, Asthma or type2 diabetes etc.

"Optimal Nutrition in the first 24 months is very crucial and the nutrient density of the food consumed by the mother and the infant is the key to a healthy, disease free future of the baby and the mother."