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The human body never fails to surprise me – and this time it’s because of this one mind-blowing fact about breast milk.
Though we know the nutritional value of breast milk, its composition actually changes according to your baby’s needs.
It changes to such an extent that from morning to night your baby will be ingesting a different composition of milk according to the time of day!
Cradlewise, explains: “The hormones that your baby ingests depend on the timing of breastfeeding.
“The morning milk is high in an energy drink-like hormone called cortisol. And the evening milk is high in a sleep-inducing hormone called melatonin.”
How does breast milk composition effect my baby?
Alexa Mullane is a Nutritional Therapist and Nutritional Advisor to Wiley’s Finest says that breast milk is “magic” and not only does it change in response to a baby’s nutritional and immune requirements over time, but it also changes daily in response to the mother’s circadian rhythm, which helps to give essential nutrients and hormones to the baby at the correct times of day.
“When babies are born they don’t yet have a fully functioning circadian clock and breast milk helps to ‘set’ their clocks by transferring cortisol in the morning to help the baby become more alert, and tryptophan and melatonin in the evening to help it sleep.
“The hormones produced at night also help the mother to fall asleep quickly.”
She went on to explain that there are other differences in milk during the day.
The fat content in the milk increases during the day so when babies have long feeds in the evening it often fills them up and helps them to sleep longer stretches throughout the night.
“The hormone prolactin (which encourages milk production) is also higher in mothers at night so feeding through the night helps to establish a good supply.”
Now if only this could also guarantee a baby will then sleep also through the night…
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