Breastfeeding, the natural method of feeding a newborn, is undoubtedly the best way to feed a baby.
Dr. Martinez Perez, pediatrician at MIP Salud, explains that the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF recommend that newborns should be exclusively breastfed for the first 6 months, prolonging breastfeeding supplemented with other foods up to two years of age.
Learn everything you need to know about breastfeeding from a specialist.
Breastfeeding is the milk of the species; within the animal kingdom, and as mammals we are, we drink milk as a fundamental food in our diet during the breastfeeding period, which in humans is considered to cover up to the first two years.
Benefits of breast milk
Breast milk is made up of a series of substances, immune components (such as immunoglobulin A or lactoferrin), long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, hormones and growth factors, oligosaccharides and even beneficial bacteria.
The benefits produced by breast milk are not the result of the individual action of each of its components, but all of them act together, as in an orchestra, to give rise to its benefits.
In those cases in which it is not possible to breastfeed, the industry has developed (from other animal milks, mainly cow’s milk) an adaptation of its milk so that it can be used in human beings from birth. These milks, developed from the human milk pattern, are a valid alternative to breastfeed our babies, advancing during the last years, so that these preparations are more similar in their composition to breast milk.
How long is breastfeeding recommended and is there an age when it is recommended to stop breastfeeding?
Breastfeeding should be maintained as long as possible and as long as the mother wants, there is no specific minimum or maximum time. Theoretically, we are infants during the first two years, although it is true that after 6 months milk alone is not able to maintain the nutritional intake necessary to ensure optimal growth and development, so it is necessary to diversify the diet and introduce what we call complementary feeding, which consists of adding progressively and according to the capacity that is developing in our digestive tract to assimilate food, each and every one of them.
As I have already mentioned, during the first two years we are infants, so milk is a fundamental food; however, after those two years we do not have to stop drinking milk or its derivatives, because the human being has developed an adaptation (enzymatic induction) by which he is able to continue tolerating milk for the rest of his life, since he continues to secrete intestinal lactase. Thus, there is no limit to stop drinking milk, only if there is an intolerance (which is not usual).
How and when should complementary foods be started with breastfeeding?
The current consensus recommends introducing appropriate complementary foods at 6 months of age, since food diversification before 4 months is associated with obesity.
On the one hand, the WHO recommends starting complementary feeding at 6 months, and on the other hand, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) indicates that it is safe to introduce mashed solid foods between 4 and 6 months. Therefore, the current recommendation is not before 4 months and preferably at 6 months.
This is because breastfeeding alone is not sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of the developing child. It is important, therefore, to introduce these solid, mashed foods, with new flavors and textures, in order to develop healthy eating habits.
In this sense, it must be said that the extent to which tastes are liked (or disliked) is due to innate factors, but environmental factors also play a role, as well as learning experience.
It is known that there are tastes from the maternal diet that pass to the fetus through the amniotic fluid. For example, the taste of human milk varies according to the mother’s diet, i.e., nursing babies are unconsciously being exposed to different flavors every day, depending on the mother’s diet (there is evidence that children of mothers who eat carrots, garlic and fruit during pregnancy or during the first months of lactation accept these flavors better when they are given them directly in their diet). This assumes that breast milk is the “taste bridge” between the uterus and the introduction of solid foods, which can help in the introduction of solid foods.
Fruits tend to be better accepted than vegetables due to the innate taste of human beings for sweet flavors, and variety and repetition are effective strategies to increase the taste for vegetables.
Children who take longer to be introduced to new textures tend to become “picky eaters”, and healthy eating habits established in the early years last a lifetime….
Are there any foods/behaviors that the mother should avoid because they could reach the baby through the milk?
As I just said before, tastes and nutritional factors of the mother will influence positively or negatively on her children, therefore, it is essential to influence maternal nutrition to avoid developing possible problems in her children tomorrow.
Last year’s campaign was about making it easier for women to breastfeed at any time and place, has there been any improvement in any aspect? What taboos remain?
Breastfeeding has important benefits for both mother and baby. Reducing the risk of breast and ovarian cancer, the possibility of developing type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease are among the benefits for the mother. At the same time, it plays an essential role in the mobilization of fat reserves accumulated during pregnancy, thus helping the mother to regain the weight she had before becoming pregnant. Breastfeeding restores maternal metabolism, reducing the risk of metabolic disease. If a woman does not breastfeed, negative metabolic changes persist longer, increasing the maternal risk of metabolic disease.
For the baby, breastfeeding protects in the short term against gastrointestinal and respiratory infections and allergies, and in the long term it is associated with a reduction in the incidence of obesity and diabetes, as well as lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels.
On the other hand, breastfeeding strengthens the mother-child bond, and this close contact between the two stimulates the mother to produce antibodies and secrete them in the breast milk, protecting her child.
If we take these tips as a reference, I don’t think there are many arguments -and much less taboos- that make our mothers not to breastfeed their children. The main problem comes with the sexualization of the breast, which makes certain norms prevent showing it. The clear difference is to go “naked” in the street, showing your breast, or to take it out to breastfeed your child; and I repeat, the difference, at least from my point of view, is more than clear.