PDF The following is a very INCOMPLETE list of what the medical literature has to say about breast milk, and its influence on how a baby grows and lives:
1) In the first two days, clear fluid comes from the breast. This fluid spreads commensal flora throughout the babies mucosal surfaces and gut area. This flora was picked up during the baby’s descent down the vagina before being born. (No, caesarian babies don’t get that beneficial gut flora innoculation …, and yes, they pay a price for that.)
2) Colostrum lays down a huge body of anti-infection components as well as “kick-starting” the instruction of the gut flora. Remember that the intestinal system is… 70% of a person’s immune system, and it orchestrates the rest of the immune system.
3) Breast milk gives the baby its first stem cell transplant, with pluripotent cells which can help heal in most places of the body, and that stem cell infusion continues for the whole duration of breastfeeding.
4) Breast milk inactivates pathogens.
5) Protects against Pneumococcal disease (and protects the infant from other bacterial pathogens).
6) Breast milk regulates the immune system’s protective pathways.
7) Breast milk educates and orchestrates the immune system, and activates memory T cells.
8)Breast milk directly and positively affects lung growth and function in school children.
9) Breast milk helps prevent coeliac disease and obesity The slower growth of the breastfed baby reduces the risk of developing other lifestyle diseases later in life.
10) Breast milk reduces asthma incidence.
11) Breast milk neutralises endotoxins from all bacterial diseases (including meningococcal disease).
12) Breast milk creates a microbiome (a special colony of very helpful commensal bacteria which depends on breast milk) which is crucial not only to help the immune function properly and defend the baby against infections, but also to protect against cancer, digestive diseases, to synthesise micronutrients and concludes the digestion of food components which escape assimilation in the small intestine. The commensal bacteria of a formula bed baby is completely different to that of a breastfed baby.
SEE REFERENCES AND READ FULL ARTICLE HERE: Full article by Hilary Butler
I think that if physicians strongly encouraged breastfeeding,and the government supported it, and we stopped vaccinating we reduce the need for doctors and pharma by well over 50%…and who would that benefit? Information like this will help people to have a better understanding and realize that they currently have to rely on themselves rather than the power structure to keep them healthy. When you understand the info. in here, and realize that it is not front page news, you know there is something seriously amiss.
What is the correlation of obesity and the lack of breastfeeding? The media spouts that it is because of fast food, which I am sure does compound the issue. Before Big Formula came into play and breastfeeding was the norm, what was the obesity rate?
Kristi,
my guess is that it's just basic overfeeding that stretches the stomach and requires more and more amounts of formula. Always? no not always, just like there are obese adults who were breastfed, there are not always obese adults who were formula fed.
You can't overfeed a breastfed baby at the breast. You can overfeed formula. 40 ounces a day is an absurd amount of formula, yet, when I had my older boys that was the limit and then solids needed to be given and it didn't mater how old they were at the time, though 4 months was still a fairly common recommendation. I nursed my last 2 for 2-3 years depending on the kid …. so I don't even know what the amount to feed is recommended anymore.
My big boys never took more than 6 ounces. Because of that, I have just never understood the large bottles that are given today. I very much fed all 4 of my kids when they needed to eat, and let them eat what they wanted. Even now, we don't live in a house that belongs to the clean plate club. I have weight issues, and I am really hoping that the changes that we have made will help.
I would love to know the overall obesity rate before formula.
I would like to know how you think you can over feed a baby with formula but you can't with breast milk. In both situations, once the baby is satisfied, the baby spits the appropriate nipple out of its mouth. Because infants do not have a fully developed and functional lower esophageal sphincter, once their stomachs are full, they spit up any excess food/fluid. They develop this sphincter with time such that most babies between 6 & 9 months have a functional sphincter. This is the time at which you can overfeed.
Good post..very interesting.