You may be wondering why I stand by the simple motto – Trust your Bs (Body, Boobs and Baby!) when it comes to breastfeeding and often parenting in general!
Let’s break it down a little, I say a little, I’m going to go into the science of it all – it’s just so fascinating and shows why we just need to trust!
Your body started the amazing process of lactating possibly before you even knew you were pregnant. As early as 4 weeks your breasts begin to form a complex web of milk ducts and milk producing cells called lactocytes. At around 15 weeks in pregnancy these lactocytes start working and around 20 weeks they start producing milk, so as well as growing a whole human inside you, you also create a complete new food source specifically for your baby! Your breast milk contains an array of bioactive components – elements that affect many different functions in the body. When you add all of these together, your breastmilk is far more important than just nutrition alone, with medicinal components that play a vital role in your baby’s life now and later in life. Your body is ready and waiting to feed your baby!
The first hour with your baby is truly magical and it is your golden opportunity to initiate breastfeeding, because if you’re baby latches onto your breast within the first 60 minutes of being born, it will trigger a chain reaction in your body. When you were pregnant the pregnancy hormone progesterone stopped the hormone prolactin allowing milk production to really get going. After your placenta is delivered your progesterone levels begin to drop, this drop can take a few days which is way you don’t instantly have an abundance of milk. Your baby latching onto your breasts in those first few hours begins the cycle of rhythmic sucking that switch on the cells in your breasts to initiate your milk supply. Have you heard of the breast crawl? That’s right – your new born baby can crawl! Something he/she won’t be able to do for the next 6 months or so. A healthy new born baby has the innate ability to search and crawl pushing across the body towards the mother’s breast, all on his/her own! Such an amazing survival skill! Scientists believe it’s the smell from the Montgomery glands in your areola that attract baby towards the breast. During this time skin-to-skin contact is so important between mother and baby, this releases another hormone called oxytocin or otherwise known as ‘the love hormone’ the levels of oxytocin in mother and baby in the first hour is incredibly high and this window closes quickly. Oxytocin helps both the initiation of milk production and the delivery of small amounts of colostrum (your early milk) to your baby. Colostrum is thick and yellow and may not seem like much, but this is like liquid gold to your baby’s tiny cherry sized tummy (yours is around the size of a grape fruit) here are some of the amazing things it contains:
• It’s a concentrated source of immune protective factors for your baby’s immune system which is not yet fully developed. These include antibodies, white blood cells called luekocytes which fight infection and activate your baby’s natural defences (these actually make up to 70% of the cells in your colostrum), and also pre and pro biotics (all of which are not included in formula) it’s often described as natures first vaccine as it protects your vulnerable new born from sicknesses!
• One of the antibodies, slgA, costs your baby’s immature gut which is susceptible to disease and infection. This reduces the risk of tummy upsets and diarrhoea and also stops harmful substances entering the blood stream.
• Growth factors and hormone to help your baby to grow and develop
• Minerals such as magnesium (keeps bones strong and keeps the heart rhythm healthy) and zinc (helps to develop your baby’s brain and supports the immune system) and copper (needed for growth and aids the development of many organs such as the heart and brain
Each time you breastfeed your baby the ‘love hormone’ is released in both of you. Now you may think this is simply because your baby is feeding off you and you love your baby, while that’s true there is so much more to it. The science behind it is truly amazing and why we just need to trust in our body, trust in our baby and trust in our boobs. Here is what really happens broken down into 4 steps.
• Your baby’s sucking stimulates the touch receptors around your nipple and areola
• This action sends impulses to your brains pituitary gland which releases oxytocin
• Oxytocin then stimulates the cells surrounding the alveoli where the milk is stored
• The stimulated alveoli contracts and pushes the milk out through the ducts towards the nipple
As well as creating intense feelings of love, safety and calmness for mother and baby oxytocin has also been proven to decrease sensitivity to pain, promote healing, reduce stress and lower the blood pressure of both mother and baby. Once you’ve got breastfeeding established, your baby’s brain will release oxytocin at the sight of you, the sound of your voice and at the scent of you and your baby will begin to associate these things with pleasant feelings. It makes sense that this hormone plays a vital role in helping you bond with your new baby, science has proven that mother’s eo breastfeed have higher levels of oxytocin than those who formula feed, scientists have linked this with heightened mothering behaviour including more eye contact, caressing, affectionate language and faster responsiveness.
Oxytocin is very important for your own well being as a mother too, It’s aids your recovery from childbirth. If your baby latches on early and often this helps to expel your placenta and stops you losing too much blood. As your baby continues to breastfeed often, oxytocin helps your uterus to shrink back to normal size. It also has anti-depressant and anti-anxiety properties which may protect against post natal depression (however post natal depression of course has far more involved than a single hormone).
Now we have only just looked at the first few days with your newborn and already there’s so many crazy amazing and wonderful things that happen between your body/boobs and your baby!!!
Over the next few days the milk starts to come in properly, from around 5 to 14 days this milk is known as the transitional milk and it has a vast amount of antibodies that reduce the risk of infections in the short term but also has lasting effects to fight diseases in later life. It’s nutritionally high in fat, lactose, and vitamins in just the perfect balance that your baby needs as he/she grows rapidly. Amazingly at this time there are more than 200 oligosaccharides (pre biotics that protect and help develop your babies gut) whereas cows milk only contains 40.
Over the next month this is when you and your baby really get going with breastfeeding and by the end of the first month your milk is fully mature. It’s become a case of supply and demand as you feed your baby, it’s very different to that very first milk you have (colostrum) and you’re producing much, much more, however it’s still just as amazing and nutritious for your baby. It’s high in fat and there for has more calories for your baby as he/she continues to grow and develop, the more your baby feeds – the more milk you will make!
Crazy fact for you – as we already know your milk contains immune cells to fight infection, in your mature milk these are only up to 2%. However, if your body detects infection in either you or your baby the levels shoot up to a massive 94%!!! How amazing is THAT! It blows mind how clever our bodies and breast milk is!!!
Your mature milk continues to change and grow with your baby, providing literally everything they need nutritionally. Here are some more facts about what your breast milk contains:
• Proteins that –
Provide nutrition
activate your babies immune system
help develop the neurons in your babies brain
• More than 200 types of pre biotics that –
Help your baby to fight infection
Feed intestinal flora
Develop the immune system
Reduce inflammation in your babies brain
• 1400 microRANS that are believed to –
Be crucial to the regulation of gene expression
Regulate the development of prevention of diseases
Help your baby’s immune system
• Long chain fatty acids that –
Help develop your baby’s brain, eyes and nervous system
Not only that but your milk varies depending on the gender of your baby! Studies have shown that Mamas feeding boys have milk higher in fat, yet produce less milk. Mamas feeding girls have less fat but higher in calcium and produce more milk, and even more again if she feeds 2 girls in a row! Incredible!
One of my favourite things that breastmilk contains tryptophan, an amino acid used by the body to make melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone that helps induce and regulate sleep. Tryptophan levels in breastmilk rise and fall according to the maternal circadian rhythm. Breast milk is the perfect way to help your baby sleep, believe it or not but sleep better and develop their own circadian rhythm.
There are sooo many incredible facts and breastmilk, there is so much evidence and research out there (and they are constantly finding more) that we could talk all day about the facts but the bottom line is – BREASTMILK IS MAGICAL!
All we have to do is trust in our bodies that it knows what it’s doing and our milk is enough! If we are feeding our baby on a supply and demand basis they have everything they need. And we need to base the demand on our babies. Trust those babies! All babies are born with an innate need to be close to their mother, in fact the first few months of a babies life is often called the ‘forth trimester’ because your new born baby isn’t born being able to fend for themselves, they go from being cocooned in a warm and comforting space where they don’t feel hunger or thirst, they don’t have painful wind, no funny smells or bright lights or being passed around from person or person or surface to surface. Then suddenly they come into this big scary world. So your baby wants and needs to be close to what is familiar and comforting to them, their mother and their mother’s breast! Your amniotic fluid that nourished your baby in the womb had similar flavours and smell to your breast milk (we know that even the smell of your breast milk can reduce pain in your newborn baby) so your breastmilk goes far beyond just nutrition to your baby, your breast feels like home to your baby, it’s where they feel calm and soothed from anything they are experiencing in this big new world. And as your baby grows, develops and explores there will be a hundred reasons why they want to come back to the breast, they may be sore from wind or teething, the may be going through a growth spurt or learning big and new things and having a hard time getting through their developmental leap as their brain is constantly in overdrive as it accomplishes new skills, or maybe they are too hot or too cold – fact: your breastmilk can detect if your babies body temperature is out by even 2 degree and will warm up or cool down to accommodate your baby! Maybe your baby is over stimulated or feeling overwhelmed by new surrounding, loud and unfamiliar noises or overbearing (but probably well meaning) family and friends, or they are tired or not feeling well (remember our breastmilk can detect illness before we’ve even seen symptoms in our little ones) or they ar3 hungry or thirsty – there are just so many reasons why our baby may need their boobie!
We just need to trust! Our baby knows how they feel, they have an inbuilt instinct and know what they need and our breasts can accommodate every single need they have from 1 hour old to 1 year, 2 years and beyond. Our breast milk does not have an expiry date! It continues to develop with your baby into toddler hood and has amazing benefits no matter how old your little person is – I’ll talk more about this later.
I love everything about how incredibly clever our bodies and boobs and babies are during this magical time of life!
Yet, I realise I have only talked about it as if it always goes this smoothly and this perfectly – it doesn’t, not for everyone! As I well know from experience! However I still stick by the phrase trust your Bs. Because Mamas know. You will know of something is wrong or not going right I knew before my baby was even 24 hours old that something wasn’t right, my body was telling me there was something wrong! But I was just fobbed off as the new, inexperienced and overly anxious mother – please don’t ever let anyone make you feel like that, I know now that a mother is a mother! It doesn’t matter if they have been a mother for 10 hours or 10 years, they know their baby and if the mother says something is wrong they should be listened to. And trust your baby too, get your self familiar with normal baby behaviour but if you think something isn’t right well you’re probably right. There are good way to tell if baby is getting enough milk and nutrition such as weight gain, wet and dirty nappies, being satisfied when feeding with good rhythmic sucking pattern and feeling your breasts drain and fill up again after feeds and not being too sleepy, being alert and wanting to feed when you would expect them to according to their age.
All you really need to do is trust in your instincts to trust your baby’s instincts.
Trust in yourself as a Mama, it’s easy and normal to have doubts especially when it all feels new but I’m telling you that your body was made to do this, your boobs were made to nourish your baby so just have trust along this journey in you and your baby! And I’m here to help and motivate you to have that trust along the way. This is passion, so reach out if you want to and ask me any questions because I would love to help!
Trust Your Bs!!
Cranio Shaped Mama 