Many women choose to breastfeed their babies due to the significant health benefits provided over infant formula for both baby and mother.
Breast milk contains all the nutrients a baby requires for the first six months of life. Following this period, solid foods can gradually be introduced. The World Health Organization recommends feeding babies exclusively on breast milk for the first six months of life and then continuing breastfeeding once the infant has started to eat solid food, until up to two years of age.
Antibodies present in the breast milk boost the baby’s immune system and decrease the likelihood of diarrhoea, vomiting, or chest and ear infections developing. Breast feeding is also thought to decrease the risk of obesity later in life and therefore reduces the likelihood of conditions such as type 2 diabetes developing. Breast milk is also easier to digest than commercial formula.
For the mother, breastfeeding lowers the risk for breast and ovarian cancer as well as expending up to 500 calories a day, saving money, and helping to build a strong bond with the baby.
Any amount of breastfeeding has positive effects and the longer a child is breastfed for, the longer the health benefits will last for both baby and mother.
The early period of life is a critical phase in which the immune system must learn to tolerate harmless environmental stimuli, such as food and microbes that normally live in and on the body, while remaining vigilant against harmful substances and pathogens.
New research has found a hormone is responsible for making mothers' interactions with newborns feel rewarding rather than just necessary.
Trans-vaccenic acid (TVA), the most abundant trans fatty acid found in human breast milk, helps boost immune system development and has long-lasting effects on immune system health in mice, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Chicago.
Trans-vaccenic acid (TVA), the most abundant trans fatty acid found in human breast milk, helps boost immune system development and has long-lasting effects on immune system health in mice, according to a new study by researchers from the University of Chicago.
The gut microbiome and epigenetics-molecular switches that turn genes on or off-are intertwined, and both contribute to neurodevelopment, finds a study publishing April 10 in the Cell Press journal Cell Press Blue.
This study maps dynamic gene expression in mouse mammary glands, revealing insights into lactation, maternal health, and breast cancer risk through imprinting.
Researchers discovered that newborn newborns had one of three pioneer bacteria in their stomach immediately after birth, one of which might be exploited to generate novel personalized infant therapeutic probiotics.
In a comprehensive study, a team of researchers from TU Graz’s Institute of Environmental Biotechnology has presented compelling findings supporting the idea that the intake of fruits and vegetables enhances the diversity of bacteria in the human gut.
Early social and environmental exposures can have large and lasting effects on child development and adult health.
Details of how the gut microbiota changes during the first three months of life will be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Copenhagen, Denmark (15-18 April).
HTLV-1 triggers aggressive forms of leukemia or an incurable spinal cord disease that leads to paralysis: the virus is the often ignored but no less insidious sibling of the HIV virus that causes AIDS and also belongs to the family of retroviruses.
Can newborns delivered by cesarean surgery lack vital microbes? Recent data suggests that “no” could be the answer. Mothers are able to transmit bacteria to their babies through alternative, compensating channels, according to research published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe on March 8th, 2023.
A recent study led by Bruno Silva Santos, Group Leader and Vice-Director at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, found that a specific subset of white blood cells called γδ T cells affects the transfer of the mother’s microbiota during childbirth and breastfeeding and affects the infants’ lung immune response.
A new study demonstrates that intranasal human milk is a safe and feasible intervention for intraventricular hemorrhage, a serious cause of morbidity in preterm infants.
For World Creativity and Innovation Day, we asked leading experts within the life sciences industry 'What does creativity and innovation look like to you within science?'.
A recent study proves that antibiotic use in the first week of birth is associated with a reduction in the number of healthy bacteria required to digest milk.
Researchers have explored the cellular changes that occur in human mammary tissue in lactating and non-lactating women, offering insight into the relationship between pregnancy, lactation, and breast cancer.
Announcing a new article publication for Zoonoses journal. Dallas Vue and Qiyi Tang from Howard University College of Medicine, Washington, DC, USA review transmission, origin, pathogenesis, animal model and diagnosis of Zika Virus.
Maternal antibodies are transmitted through breastfeeding, safeguarding the gastrointestinal tracts of infants from numerous pathogen-caused infections.
Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Brazil found that when health workers were trained to promote infant healthy feeding practices to pregnant women their children consumed less fats and carbohydrates at 3 years of age and had lower measures of body fat at the age of 6.
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