Obstetrics and Gynecology
James M. Rippe in Manual of Lifestyle Medicine, 2021
Human breast milk is a physiological form of nutrition for infants and young children. Even though formula feeding is widespread worldwide, a significant body of literature and research strongly supports infant and maternal benefits from breastfeeding. Both ACOG and AAP state that breastfeeding ensures the best possible health outcomes for the child. Both of these organizations recommend exclusive breastfeeding for at least the first six months of life and continue breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced to the infant’s first year of life or longer if mutually desired by the women and her infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) endorses breastfeeding for the first two years of life. Healthy People 2020 guidelines establish a goal of 82% of babies to have been breastfed and a continuation rate of 61% at six months and 34% at one year.
Infant Nutrition
Praveen S. Goday, Cassandra L. S. Walia in Pediatric Nutrition for Dietitians, 2022
Human milk provides nutrition and bioactive components unique to a human infant’s needs. Breastfeeding and providing human milk are recommended for the first 6 months of life by all professional medical associations as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and breastfeeding should complement foods until 12 months of age or beyond. Its unique composition is specifically designed to optimize an infant’s ability to digest and absorb macro- and micronutrients in amounts required to promote growth and support neurodevelopment. Human milk also contains non-nutritive factors such as growth hormones, digestive enzymes, and stem cells and has diverse immune-enhancing properties (see Table 5.2). Our understanding of the seemingly infinite components of the human milk is constantly changing as the tools to measure its composition improve and facilitate more research. Beyond meeting nutritional needs, feeding at the breast allows the infant to learn to self-regulate intake and it is a time for bonding facilitated through skin-to-skin contact, eye contact, and familiar odors. Human milk is dynamic in its make-up, constantly changing to meet the nutritionl and immunological needs of the infant and is influenced by maternal diet and environmental exposures. Human milk composition changes throughout the day and throughout the first year of life as the nutrient needs for infant change and table foods are introduced.
Increasing and reducing
James Kennaway, Rina Knoeff in Lifestyle and Medicine in the Enlightenment, 2020
Von Haller here referred to the balance between lactation and menstruation, or the “menstrual flux” as it was called. In Galenic humoral theory, breast milk was thought to be produced from the menses, rising from the uterus to the breasts in the latter stages of pregnancy. As the menses was further “concocted”, the fluid changed colour from red to white. While in von Haller’s time this physiology was reformulated as milk developing directly from the blood and chyle – making milk and menses entirely separate fluids and emissions – the end result was the same: a healthy balance of retention and excretion meant monthly emissions outside pregnancy and lactation; and whenever menstruation and lactation occurred simultaneously or not at all, it was a sign of ill health (Gaubius, 1778, pp. 315–316).4 Young mothers were therefore advised to breastfeed, for the benefit of their child as well as their own health.
Infrared analyzers for the measurement of breastmilk macronutrient content in the clinical setting
Published in Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics, 2020
Cristina Borràs-Novell, Ana Herranz Barbero, Victoria Aldecoa-Bilbao, Georgina Feixas Orellana, Carla Balcells Esponera, Erika Sánchez Ortiz, Oscar García-Algar, Isabel Iglesias Platas
Human milk is a complex and highly variable fluid with a primordial role in infant nutrition and development. It provides all nutrients required for an infant for the first six months of postnatal growth [1]. While human milk is sufficient to ensure growth of term infants, it may be inadequate to meet the needs of preterm infants regarding protein, energy, and other components [2,3]. At the time of discharge, most very premature infants are substantially growth-restricted in comparison to their term-born peers [4]. In the last decades, human milk banks have been developed with the objective of providing human milk to neonates whose mothers are not able to breastfeed. When compared to formula feeding, donor human milk reduces the incidence and severity of several diseases, particularly necrotizing enterocolitis [5] but due to lower nutritional density when compared to formula and own mother´s milk, it might adversely impact growth outcomes [6].
Infant sex differences in human milk intake and composition from 1- to 3-month post-delivery in a healthy United States cohort
Published in Annals of Human Biology, 2021
Erin K. Eckart, Jennifer D. Peck, Elyse O. Kharbanda, Emily M. Nagel, David A. Fields, Ellen W. Demerath
Human milk is a complex fluid that provides essential energy and nutrients to infants as well as growth factors, hormones, microbes, immune factors, whole cells, miRNAs, and other constituents believed to be bioactive for the infant during a critical period of development (Savino et al. 2013; Andreas et al. 2015; Lee and Kelleher 2016). Human milk composition is known to vary considerably between individual women and across populations, and by specific maternal characteristics, including diet, obesity status, metabolic state (i.e. obesity and diabetes), as well as behavioural factors, such as feeding patterns (Fields et al. 2016; Lee and Kelleher 2016). In contrast, infant characteristics that influence milk composition, including infant sex, are greatly understudied. Sexual dimorphism in mammalian morphology is apparent early in development onwards, arises initially from differing genetic and hormonal effects, and is associated with numerous sex differences in subsequent health and development (Becker et al. 2005). The need to conduct studies that take into account sex as a biological variable in medicine was highlighted by the 2001 Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee report, “Exploring the Biological Contributions to Human Health: Does Sex Matter” (IOM 2001).
Can I pump here? Availability and awareness of lactation spaces at New Jersey colleges and universities
Published in Journal of American College Health, 2022
Lauren M. Dinour, Reshma D. Adwar, Ayla Gentiletti, Nyreen Seguinot, Kaitlin Overgaard
Human milk is the ideal food for most infants, conferring a host of health benefits for both the infant and parent.1–3 For parents who are employed, research shows that breastfeeding reduces absenteeism rates due to infant illness.4 Additionally, when employees receive support to express breast milk at work, they exhibit higher retention rates,5 increased health care savings,6 and higher productivity and satisfaction with their jobs.7 Despite these benefits, US breastfeeding rates are among the lowest in the world.8 In 2015, 83.2% of American infants were ever breastfed, yet only 24.9% were exclusively breastfed through six months as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United National Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).9 One of the main reasons for this steep drop-off is return to work. Parents often experience barriers to maintaining breastfeeding when returning to their place of employment or education.10 This is significant, given that in 2017, 55.3% of mothers with infants under one year were employed in the labor force.11 Among American undergraduate college students, nearly 26% were parents in 2012, a 30% increase from 2004.12
Related Knowledge Centers
- Breast
- Breast Pump
- Mammary Gland
- Milk
- Preterm Birth
- Infant
- Lactose
- Milk Oligosaccharide
- Baby Bottle
- Nasogastric Intubation