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.
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.
New Curtin University-led research has found climate change will have a substantial impact on global food production and health if no action is taken by consumers, food industries, government, and international bodies.
In a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers at Children's Hospital Colorado have found that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of marijuana, stays in breast milk for up to six weeks, further supporting the recommendations of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine to abstain from marijuana use during pregnancy and while a mother is breastfeeding.
The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee (ISIC) published a new report today, titled 'Coffee and sleep in everyday lives', authored by Professor Renata Riha, from the Department of Sleep Medicine at the University of Edinburgh.
A diet high in sugar during adulthood is associated with weight gain, and has also been linked to risk of type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease, and heart disease. New research shows that when consumed by moms during the breastfeeding period, a high sugar diet can also impact developmental outcomes during infancy.
Introducing high doses of gluten from four months of age into infants' diets could prevent them from developing coeliac disease, a study has found.
In the largest study of its kind, Ottawa researchers found that children whose mothers reported using cannabis during pregnancy were at greater risk of autism.
Oxytocin, produced by the hypothalamus and sometimes known as the "love hormone" for its involvement in pair bonding and orgasm, can be a strong ally in the control and prevention of osteoporosis, according to a study by scientists at São Paulo State University in Brazil.