13 Mar 2013

Breast milk - your baby’s natural immune support

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Did you know that breast milk contains several hundred species of beneficial bacteria? Naturopath Stephanie Hamilton explains how breast milk helps to support your baby’s immune system.

Pregnancy and preconception

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Human breast milk really is a superfood! Breast milk acts as a nutritionally balanced, immune boosting, growth promoting food for babies. This incredible example of nature at its purest has been happening since we inhabited the planet, and science continues to prove its value which of course we knew all along.

Recent research has found that breast milk contains hundreds of different strains of beneficial bacteria which are essential to the immune health of the baby. These bacteria help to protect against infection during a critical time in life when the baby’s own immune defenses, including the gut barrier, are immature.

It seems that breast milk has been tailored to meet the needs of babies as they grow. Researchers have found that as a baby grows older, the number and types of bacteria change. However maternal factors can influence the breast milk bacteria with this paper finding that overweight mothers had different and less diverse strains of bacteria for their babies than mothers who were a healthy weight.

Further research has shown that breast milk not only boosts the immune system of the baby, but also helps to prevent allergies and eczema. In a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial published in Pediatric Allergy and Immunology 112 pregnant women with a family history of allergic diseases a probiotic supplement* from one to two months before their babies were born and until six months after delivery. The infants whose mothers took the probiotics had a significantly lower prevalence of eczema at 1 year old than the placebo group.

*Bifidobacterium bifidum BGN4, B. lactis AD011and Lactobacillus acidophilus AD031 were used in the trial.

References available on request

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