It's not that I want to blame anyone for breastfeeding or stop breastfeeding, but I often find myself in the nursing office with parents who give artificial milk to their baby by asking me why your child has discomfort in the belly, those that we often know as infant colic.
Sometimes it is reflux, in other allergies, but in many others we talk simply of a baby who is drinking a milk that costs more to digest and that generates more abdominal discomfort. Therefore, to report something that has been known for a while but many parents do not know, we explain today that breast milk reduces colic and helps babies sleep better, or what is the same, that artificial milk increases the likelihood of a baby suffering from colic and having more trouble sleeping.
Breast milk is digested better
Have you noticed that breast babies tend to make more shots than bottle babies? Well, it's true. Breastfed babies have to be fed more often because breast milk is digested very well. It is logical, the mother is producing the specific milk of her species (human milk for a human) and, in addition, the specific milk for her baby (Juan's mother produces milk for Juan).
As opposed, artificial milk is the same for all babies, it is modified cow's milk and it does not matter if the baby has a week or five months: the milk is the same. As a result, it costs more to digest, causes more discomfort to the baby and eats less frequently: a child who fills the stomach with breast milk has finished the digestion within 90 minutes of eating, while a child who is filled with milk artificial will take almost double, about 3 hours.
This causes a difference, as we say, in the presence of infant colic. A study published in 2012 compared babies from 2 to 4 months breastfed with babies fed with formula and found that those who took breast suffered colic in a much smaller proportion (about 20 times less).
How is that possible? Well, among other things because the intestinal bacteria (the microbiota) of a breastfed baby are very different from those of babies who drink artificial milk. And with different bacteria, different digestions are obtained. Some better and others worse.
Breast milk contains tryptophan and melatonin
He tryptophan It is a precursor of two secreted hormones in our brain that can help us fall asleep. One of them is the serotonin, which acts as a brain neurotransmitter in areas of the brain that modulate mood and sleep; the other is the melatonin, a hormone that all people generate, which is vital for wakefulness and sleep cycles. We barely produce it during the day, and when the darkness of the night comes our brain begins to secrete it to induce us to sleep and rest.
In newborns, their sleep does not depend on melatonin, because there are no fluctuations as adults do. That is why nature has foreseen that receive it from outside with breastfeeding, while they are not able to create and regulate it. In another study they analyzed the levels of melatonin in breast milk and saw that during the day the levels were negligible and that during the night they were clearly objective, demonstrating that the concentration varies according to day or night, to help the baby to catch the rhythm circadian.
And as we have said, he does it in two ways: with the melatonin present in breast milk and with tryptophan, which upon reaching the baby's body helps him to secrete melatonin by himself, so that he begins earlier to be his own day controller and the night. In other words: the baby is learning, little by little, to sleep better at night, thanks to the substances in his mother's milk.
Artificial milk does not contain one thing, nor the other, basically because the milk babies drink is exactly the same by day as at night. Now, it is true that many babies who drink bottles sleep relatively well. This is not because your body is regulating thanks to milk, but because slower digestions cause babies to ask for less at night, just like they do during the day. When comparing some babies and others, it is often said that tit babies wake up more, but fall asleep sooner.
And then, why are there professionals who say that babies don't have to fall asleep to the chest?
There are professionals who say such absurd and horrible things to the baby as they cannot fall asleep in the chest. In one of the books we analyzed a few years ago we can read this:
From the first day of life it is interesting to establish certain eating, hygiene and sleep routines. If the baby falls asleep while breastfeeding or in arms, you will generate in him the belief that this is normal, and not sleep in his bed. The baby should stay awake for the entire time of the shot. This is quite difficult, as it tends to fall asleep when you eat. Talk to him, make small caresses and gently stimulate him to keep awake.
What can lead a pediatrician, doctor, psychologist, nurse or whatever, to make such an assertion? Well, he have no idea what you are talking about. So clear and concise I say it: they don't know what they are talking about. And that does not mean that I know a lot, because I really know very little about this about motherhood and fatherhood, but I do know enough not to deny that breast milk and breast milk are meant to make babies sleepy.
Suction relaxes the baby, so it makes you sleepy. The milk is warm, and mom also hugging him, so eating quietly, hugging your mother, makes you sleepy. In addition, milk contains the substances just mentioned, so it gives even more sleep. And finally, in the same free they say: "It is quite difficult, because it tends to fall asleep when you eat." If most babies do that, then that is normal. Advising a mother to do the opposite of what normal babies do is to wish the little one very well and create problems where there aren't any.
So the next time you hear someone say "your baby should not sleep on his chest, he is using a pacifier" or "if he always sleeps with your chest, he will never learn to sleep alone" tell him this: "Of course he will sleep alone. Thanks to me, and my milk, he is learning to do it. "
