BREASTFEEDING AND YOUR BABY’S GUT
After birth, the process of colonising with good bacteria continues through breastfeeding, when millions of microbes are sent into the baby’s gut every day, with every gulp. Breastmilk bacteria play several roles in the baby’s gut. They reduce the incidence and severity of infections; improve the intestinal barrier function by increasing the amount of mucous that acts as a shield; train the immune system to recognise good bacteria from bad; produce anti-inflammatory substances, which keeps the gut alive and thriving; and burn energy, which determines how much fat the baby stores, and breaks down sugars and proteins. The bacterial makeup of your breast milk is in turn affected by the type of birth you had, as mentioned before, as well as your diet and well-being, your environment and even your geographic location and age! Of course, your use of antibiotics and probiotics during pregnancy also has an effect. Fascinating, right?
Breast milk is so unique to you that it could be regarded as a fingerprint. The study of breast milk is therefore a critical part of understanding how newborns build their immune systems and ward off disease later in life.
Elloise du Toit, a medical microbiologist from the University of Cape Town, says that the millions of microbes in breast milk are critical to preventing babies from suffering diseases and other acute infections later in life. These include ear infections, meningitis, urinary tract infection, asthma, type 1 diabetes and obesity.
To develop their immune systems, babies need an optimal slew of bacteria to colonise their gut.
There is global medical consensus that breastfeeding is best for babies. Yet only 38 percent of all babies in the world are fed for half a year. The effect on their health has been extensively studied. Sadly, in developing countries, babies who are not breastfed are nearly 15 times more likely to die in the first months of life from diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia than babies who are breastfed.
MILLIONS OF MICROBES ARE SENT INTO THE NURSING BABY’S GUT EVERY DAY, WITH EVERYGULPOFBREASTMILK.