My husband, who is my biggest fan here on Steemit, pointed out to me that I have 100 followers. Thank you, I guess.
So I'll wrap up this World Breastfeeding Week with a celebratory post. Here's to Steemit and to breastfeeding. A tribute, kind of, to my six years of lactation. Anyone who ever tried breastfeeding knows that I sure did do my time. It was not easy.
Here are some of my favorite pictures from that era of my life and some of my favorite breastfeeding fun facts.
Did you know exclusive breastfeeding burns around 500 calories a day? According to WebMD that is a quarter of the recommended calorie intake for women in their twenties? And if a mother is not eating adequately it does not take a toll on the milk quality, which varies little from woman to women, if not seriously malnourished, but on the woman herself. The body takes care of the baby first.
Did you know milk not only has good bacteria essential for healthy gut (which, if you followed the health news lately, is turning out to be important for the overall health throughout life) but it also contains a component, a type of sugar, that is not for the nourishment of the child but is there to feed the bacteria in the human milk that are vital for our immune system and colonise the newborn after birth (via vaginal secretion that babies get in contact with, skin on skin after birth and finally through milk).
http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/02/03/how-breast-milk-engineers-a-babys-gut-and-gut-microbes/
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/breast-feeding-the-microbiome
Another thing that is interesting in the milk itself is the antibodies baby get.
Did you know that some scientists have a theory that when the baby suckles a tiny amount of its saliva gets into the nipples and gives information to the breasts on how to compose the milk? If the baby is sick from some type of infection or virose the milk has more antibodies and other antibacterial and antiviral components than when the baby is healthy. Even though the general nutritional composition (like fats, sugars, vitamins and so on) depend not on the health but on the age of the breastfed child the immuno-composition is updated daily to suit your child's health needs. The less the child breastfeeds, and they do tend to feed less often the older they get, the antibodies and other immune components get more concentrated.
http://www.nature.com/pr/journal/v71/n2/full/pr201134a.html?foxtrotcallback=true
Here is a video of a white blood cell chasing down bacteria. There are millions of white blood in just a few milliliters of human milk.
Did you know that the taste of the milk changes depending on the mother's diet so the baby gets a glimpse of all kinds of tastes throughout the first six or more months of exclusive breastfeeding? I have found some information suggesting that babies like the taste of garlic in milk the best.
The overall composition of human milk is literally tailor made, daily, to suit the breastfeeding childs needs. I find that to be quite fascinating.
There is a lot more interesting and fascinating human milk related facts but I will leave it for now. Maybe until the National Croatian Breastfeeding Week, we have in October.
I assume you found out, through my posts last week, more about breastfeeding related issues than in quite some time, if ever. So next time you see some awareness raising celebration like the WBW (or like World Baby Wearing Week that is also in October, and I really look forward to it. Or like 16 days of activism. Or like World Down Syndrome Awareness Day. Or anything similar.) remember that these events have a real purpose and make difference for a lot of folks around the world.
All photos by the incredibly talented http://sanjalydia.com/