The 7 Wonders Of Breastmilk: Baby’s First Superfood

In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, which is always celebrated from August 1st-7th, we’re dedicating our entire week of blog posts to all things breastfeeding. We’ll dig into the amazing nutritional benefits of breastmilk, share stories from our community of mothers who breastfeed and those who do not, plus we’ll share some tips on how you can increase your breastmilk supply. So be sure to stick around all week!

To kick things off, we’re highlighting some of the most impressive benefits of breastmilk — for both you and your baby. Breastfeeding in itself can be an incredible bonding experience, but it's the properties of breastmilk that directly promote your newborn's healthy development. It’s truly baby’s first and best superfood. The list of breastmilk benefits is long, but for today, we've narrowed them down to our top list…

The 7 wonders of breastmilk

1. Breastmilk is baby’s first superfood

Did you notice a thick, yellowish, sticky substance coming out of your breasts during late pregnancy and in the week after birth? It’s called colostrum and it’s basically a supermilk. Packed full of nutrients and antibodies, this golden liquid is low in fat but high in carbs and protein, making it gentle on your baby's developing digestive system.

Studies have continued to find that colostrum plays an important role in establishing healthy gut bacteria, restoring leaky gut, and supporting healthy immune system development — and it’s widely considered a human-made superfood.

2. Breastmilk supports round-the-clock growth

It’s always surprising how fast newborns grow out of their first few outfits, and you have lactose to thank for it! Lactose is the main carbohydrate in breastmilk, and it provides all of the calories and energy needed to boost your baby's growth. Your breastmilk is also going to be rich in the other key macronutrients: fat and proteins that are critical to baby’s growth and healthy funtioning.

A few days after you've given birth, your milk starts maturing and moving away from its colostrum composition. But that’s not a bad thing! It becomes richer in essential vitamins and minerals to help your baby’s growth needs. Sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, and vitamins A, C, and E, as well as long-chain fatty acids like DHA (an omega-3) and AA (an omega-6), are all contained within breastmilk around this time!

3. Breastmilk might help baby sleep better

Let's take a look at the science behind this... melatonin is an endogenous hormone that becomes active at night. When the sun goes down, melatonin is released into your bloodstream and you begin to feel less alert and ready to hit the hay. Levels remain elevated throughout the night and drop again in the morning, helping you to wake up. This hormone can be passed on to your baby through breastmilk, so the thought is that even before babies have a concept of day or night, breastmilk can help them learn when it’s time to sleep.

One small study found that infants who breastfed had improved sleep and reduced colic symptoms, and they attributed it to naturally occurring melatonin that is passed through breastmilk. The thought is that the breastmilk you produce at night has higher levels of melatonin, and passing that on to baby through feedings supports better sleep at night. Larger scale studies have not been conducted to further verify this finding, but nonetheless, it’s a super cool concept!

4. Your breastmilk can change composition to fight infections

Although the sleep-supporting benefits are pretty legendary, perhaps the most impressive quality of breastmilk is that it can actually adapt its immunological composition and act as a medicine to target infections in your baby. How impressive is that?!

Here's how it works: while your baby is latched to your breast a vacuum is created, and your nipple pulls in some of your baby's saliva. Receptors in your mammary gland can detect if pathogens are present, and if they are, they'll start producing antibodies to fight them off. These antibodies are then released along with the breastmilk where they travel back into your baby's body and help them to recover. Mic drop.

5. Breastmilk can support brain development

The brain is made up of two types of matter, gray and white. Gray matter is made up of cell bodies, whereas white matter is made up of axons that form connections between the cell bodies. White matter is what allows communication and connection between different parts of the brain, but the gray matter is where the actual processing — or thinking — occurs. Studies have shown that early breastfeeding leads to more gray matter production and even higher IQ performance later in life.

6. Breastmilk consumption in newborns is linked to a lower risk of common childhood conditions

There are certain conditions — such as asthma, allergies, and eczema — that children can be more prone to, and these conditions often resolve by the time they reach adulthood. However, breastmilk consumption in infancy has been shown to have a preventative effect against things like atopic dermatitis, cow’s milk allergies, and asthma. For a comprehensive overview of how breastmilk can reduce common childhood conditions, check out this post from UNICEF.

7. Breastmilk can support more diverse dietary habits down the line

There is a lot of talk suggesting that the food you eat flavors your amniotic fluid in pregnancy and breastmilk after birth, encouraging your baby to develop a preference for those flavors. While this hasn’t been adequately proven in research studies, what one study did find was that the exclusive consumption of breastmilk for the first 4-6 months of life helped prevent picky eating behaviors and weight problems in the toddler years.

Studies have shown that picky eating does not appear to lead to macronutrient deficiencies, and there is nothing inherently wrong with picky eating (toddlers like to say no to everything, remember). However, picky eating can be associated with some micronutrient deficiencies, and established balanced eating habits is important for long-term healthy functioning. Breastmilk might help your little one get off on the right foot!

What if I can’t, or choose not to, breastfeed?

We know that a lot of mamas don't breastfeed — whether by choice, due to latching issues, or for another personal reason. Remember, that's what breastfeeding is at the end of the day — a personal choice that you make for yourself and your baby. We have shared some of the science-backed evidence behind breastmilk to demonstrate its proven benefits to mom and baby. But we also believe that a healthy feeding experience (physically and psychologically) is not one-size-fits-all. Ultimately, you'll be able to nourish and bond with your baby regardless of whether they are breastfed, bottle-fed, or formula-fed.

We also know that there can be a lot of pressure to breastfeed, and it’s not always something that comes easy. Be sure to check back later in the week as we’ll be sharing stories from mothers in our community about their first impressions of breastfeeding and some of the best advice they received in their own feeding journies. We’ll see you there.

Want more lifestyle tips and advice suited to your postpartum weeks? Download our app and check out our 12-week program on building your Self Care Tool Kit as a new mother!

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