Breastfeeding helps Children Grow Friendly Gut Bacteria

Breast milk is the best nutrition for babies. Breast-feeding provides many health benefits for both baby and mother. A vitamin D supplement is recommended for all breast-feeding women.

Breast milk provides the ideal nutrition for infants. It has a nearly perfect mix of vitamins, protein, and fat -- everything your baby needs to grow. And it's all provided in a form more easily digested than infant formula. Breast milk contains antibodies that help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria. 

Breastfeeding lowers your baby's risk of having asthma or allergies. Plus, babies who are breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months, without any formula, have fewer ear infections, respiratory illnesses, and bouts of diarrhea. They also have fewer hospitalizations and trips to the doctor.

Benefits of Breastfeeding for Both Mom and Baby:

1. Breast Milk Provides Ideal Nutrition for Babies:
Most health authorities recommend exclusive breastfeeding for at least 6 months. Continued breastfeeding is then recommended for at least one year, as different foods are introduced into the baby’s diet.

2. Breast Milk Contains Important Antibodies:
Breast milk is loaded with antibodies that help your baby fight off viruses and bacteria. This particularly applies to colostrum, the first milk. Colostrum provides high amounts of immunoglobulin A (IgA), as well as several other antibodies. Breast milk is loaded with antibodies, especially immunoglobin A, which can help prevent or fight illness in your baby.

3. Breastfeeding May Reduce Disease Risk:
Breastfeeding may reduce your baby’s risk of infections and many diseases, including allergy, celiac disease and diabetes.

Breastfeeding protects infants from developing chronic diseases

Infants who were breastfed had a lower risk of developing non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) such as asthma, diabetes, and obesity later in life, according to a study presented at the recent European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) annual meeting held in Athens, Greece.

“Understanding the associated neonatal risk factors for NCDs is a prerequisite to develop early life interventions to arrest the increasing epidemic burden of these chronic diseases,” said the researchers.

The researchers surveyed 6,379 individuals (mean age 25.6 years) on the effects of breastfeeding, caesarean section, and preterm birth on NCD development including asthma, allergy, type I and II diabetes, coeliac disease, overweight and obesity. [ESPGHAN 2016, abstract G-P-126]

Thirty-two percent of the participants reported having asthma or allergy, 20.7 percent had a body mass index [BMI]of >25 (out of which 5.5 percent were obese), 3.7 percent complained of coeliac disease, 1.6 percent presented with type II diabetes, and 0.8 percent presented with type I diabetes.

Contrary to prior beliefs, birth by caesarean section was not associated with an increased risk of developing these NCDs.

Breastfeeding helps children grow friendly gut bacteria
Breastfeeding

 has an impressive list of health benefits. This is particularly true of exclusive breastfeeding, meaning that the infant receives only breast milk. Breastfeeding may reduce your baby’s risk of infections and many diseases, including allergy, celiac disease and diabetes.

The presence of lactic acid bacteria in intestinal flora is important for the healthy development of the immune system in children's early years. 

The new study suggests these effects may be the result of breastfeeding encouraging the development of friendly bacteria in the baby's gut.
Researchers have become increasingly aware of how crucially important a healthy gut microbial population is for a well-functioning immune system. Babies are born without bacteria in the gut, and so it is interesting to identify the influence dietary factors have on gut microbiota development in children's first 3 years of life.

Gut bacteria composition changes significantly as breastfeeding ceases:
Researchers have found merits in breastfeeding for longer; baby gut bacteria changed significantly between 9 and 18 months as breastfeeding ceased. Using new culture-independent techniques, the team extracted DNA "signature sequences" of the gut bacteria and observed how they changed over time.
The results showed significant differences in bacteria composition between infants either breastfed or no longer breastfed at 9 months. 

Plus, they also showed that the gut bacteria changed significantly between the ages of 9 months and 18 months as breastfeeding ceased and infants were weaned onto other foods. For example, there was a shift away from lactic acid bacteria.

The researchers found that the composition of the gut bacteria was "most pronouncedly influenced by the time of cessation of breastfeeding," with clear links between increase in body mass index and increase in bacteria that tend to dominate when breastfeeding ceases.

Up to age 3, gut bacteria change, become more complex and stable. The results also show that the bacteria in the gut continue to change right up to the age of 3, and they become increasingly complex and more stable over this period.

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