The controversy over Bisphenol A, or BPA, continues, as heated as it was in 2008, when reports about possible health consequences to humans from long-term exposure followed reviews of many scientific studies.
What Is BPA?
BPA is a solid, colorless chemical used to make many kinds of plastics, and to make the sealant or liner on the inside of food and beverage cans. BPA is used to harden plastics, though it’s also found in some plastic sandwich bags and plastic cling wrap.
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The composition of human milk has been understood in great detail only in the last few decades. And even today, scientists continue to discover new components in breast milk. It has many: a handful of proteins, a handful of fats, and hundreds of carbohydrates or sugars — most of which are not digested by the infant but serve to feed the hundreds of beneficial bacteria species in the mother’s milk that are colonizing the newborn’s gut.
Breast milk also has minerals, vitamins, hormones and enzymes; these nourish the baby and regulate thousands of metabolic processes, including digestion.
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Cow’s milk is the single most complete food on Earth — no other food has as many nutrients. So, it is understandable if a mother might be eager to start her baby on cow’s milk as soon as possible.
However, doctors advise against giving cow’s milk to an infant before he or she has turned one year of age. There are several reasons for this.
It is cow’s milk’s very nutritiousness — the sugars, fats, proteins and minerals in it (calcium, phosphorus and potassium, to name the three most prominent) — that make it difficult for young babies to digest, since their digestive systems are still maturing. Read More
A Chinese study has found that breastfeeding may be linked to lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis in women who nursed their infants.
The study reviewed data from more than 7,300 women aged 50 and older from China, who filled out questionnaires asking about their health and lifestyles, including whether they had breastfed their children. Most of the women had at least one child, and more than 95 percent of moms had breastfed for at least one month.
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The importance of breastfeeding and of introducing solid foods later for preventing food allergies in children has become clearer to health professionals in recent years. Now, a new British study has found that waiting until at least 17 weeks of age to introduce solid foods helps infants avoid food allergies later on. That same study found that babies were more likely to be immune to food allergies if they were also being breastfed when solids were introduced at 17 weeks or later.
Overlapping the start of solid foods with breastfeeding seems to teach the baby’s immune system that solid foods are safe; or it could be that the mother’s breast milk provides the right types and numbers of cells and organisms that will strengthen the baby’s immunity, thereby preventing the infant’s body from developing allergies to different foods.
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How to Know if Your Newborn Is Eating Enough
As a new mom, it’s very natural to worry about all aspects of your newborn’s health, and feedings are no exception.
How can you tell if your baby is getting enough milk? There are a number of clues that can answer this question, beginning with the cues that your little one gives you.
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A new study found that babies who were bottle-fed were more than twice as likely to develop hypertrophic pyloric stenosis than babies who were breastfed. This condition involves a narrowing (stenosis) of the place where the bottom part of the stomach ends and the first part of the small intestine, the duodenum, begins. It is caused by an enlargement (hypertrophy) of the smooth muscle that surrounds this passageway, the pylorus (from the Greek pyloros or gatekeeper).
As the pylorus gets thicker, food has increasing difficulty emptying from the stomach into the small intestine. This results in babies experiencing what is referred to as “projectile vomiting,” where vomit comes out forcefully and often, sometimes at an arch.
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A study published online in August, 2013 in the Journal of Clinical Nursing found that breastfeeding for six months or longer could delay diagnosis of breast cancer by about 10 years. But the protective benefits were cancelled out if mom was a smoker.
The study, conducted at the University of Granada in Spain, examined medical records of more than 500 women aged 19 to 91, who were diagnosed and treated for breast cancer between 2004 and 2009 at a university hospital in the province of Granada.
Non-smokers who did not have children or who breastfed for less than three months were diagnosed with breast cancer at an average age of 57; non-smokers who breastfed between 3 and 6 months were diagnosed at a similar age of 56. Non-smokers who breastfed longer than six months, on the other hand, were diagnosed at an average age of 68 — more than 10 years later. However, women who breastfed longer than six months but were smokers were diagnosed at an average age of 47, or 21 years earlier. These results held steady, even when family history of breast cancer was factored in.
Read MoreA study published in late March, 2013 in the American Academy of Pediatrics journal Pediatrics found that a majority of babies in the United States may be getting introduced to solid foods much too early, often leading to a variety of chronic illnesses.
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention surveyed 1,334 new moms nationwide; they found that almost 93 percent had introduced solid foods to their infants before the babies were six months old, 40 percent had introduced solids before four months, and 9 percent had done so before four weeks of age.
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