Breast Milk
In human beings, breast milk is the perfect source of nutrition, especially for infants. Breast milk contains appropriate amounts of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. It also provides digestive enzymes, minerals, vitamins, and hormones that all infants require. Breast milk contains valuable antibodies from the mother that may help the baby resist infections.
Cow's milk by itself is inappropriate for infants less than 1 year old. The infant may develop an allergy to dairy products if given cow's milk too early in life. Although cow's milk contains most of the same components as breast milk, these components are not in the same amounts. Cow's milk also lacks the immune factors that help protect infants until their own immune system fully develops.
Commercially prepared formulas may be based on non-fat cow's milk, whey protein, or soy protein. In order to provide a balanced diet for an infant, formulas must be fortified with carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins. The antibodies found in breast milk, however, can never be added to formulas.
Milk is produced in small sac-like glands in the breast. These sacs develop after specific hormones stimulate them, beginning during the second trimester of pregnancy. The human breast does not store a large volume of milk, as cows do. Suckling stimulates the release of the hormone prolactin which stimulates milk production and the release of another hormone called oxytocin. In turn, this stimulates contraction of the milk glands. The milk is squeezed out of the milk gland, into the milk ducts, and into the nipple.
At the beginning of the feeding, the milk is bluish and contains lactose and proteins, but little fat; it is called foremilk. The end of the feeding produces hind milk. The hind milk contains more fat, the main source of energy for your baby. If breast milk is allowed to sit for half-an-hour after being expressed, the "cream" separates and settles on top of the watery part. This is because human milk isn't homogenized, the process that makes the water and fat portion in milk stay blended.
Cow's milk by itself is inappropriate for infants less than 1 year old. The infant may develop an allergy to dairy products if given cow's milk too early in life. Although cow's milk contains most of the same components as breast milk, these components are not in the same amounts. Cow's milk also lacks the immune factors that help protect infants until their own immune system fully develops.
Commercially prepared formulas may be based on non-fat cow's milk, whey protein, or soy protein. In order to provide a balanced diet for an infant, formulas must be fortified with carbohydrates, fats, minerals, and vitamins. The antibodies found in breast milk, however, can never be added to formulas.
Milk is produced in small sac-like glands in the breast. These sacs develop after specific hormones stimulate them, beginning during the second trimester of pregnancy. The human breast does not store a large volume of milk, as cows do. Suckling stimulates the release of the hormone prolactin which stimulates milk production and the release of another hormone called oxytocin. In turn, this stimulates contraction of the milk glands. The milk is squeezed out of the milk gland, into the milk ducts, and into the nipple.
At the beginning of the feeding, the milk is bluish and contains lactose and proteins, but little fat; it is called foremilk. The end of the feeding produces hind milk. The hind milk contains more fat, the main source of energy for your baby. If breast milk is allowed to sit for half-an-hour after being expressed, the "cream" separates and settles on top of the watery part. This is because human milk isn't homogenized, the process that makes the water and fat portion in milk stay blended.
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