Breast milk is the most complete food to nourish a child in its first six months of life: the fact that it is a living and dynamic food, which changes during the various stages of the day and with the growth of the child, makes it inimitable from the formula solutions.
Now a study published on Frontiers in Nutrition He analyzed the composition in different stages of the day, discovering that the concentrations of some hormones that influence the circadian rhythm (the internal biological watch that regulates the sleep and vigil phases) change considerably. For this reason, if a mother decides to extract the milk and subsequently give it with the bottle, it is preferable that it gives it in the same time slot in which she used the tiralatte.
The study. 38 mothers participated in the study: 21 extracted the milk at 6.00, 12.00, 18.00 and 24.00 of two different days after one month; The other 17 extracted it at the same times only once. The experts therefore analyzed a total of 236 samples, examining the levels of three hormones – Methelatonin, cortisol and oxytocin – and two proteins – immunoglobulin A and lactoferrin.
The results revealed that the concentrations of melatonin and cortisol changed during the day, while those of the other molecules remained unchanged, probably because they are not influenced by the signals that dictate the circadian rhythms. In particular, the peak of melatonin occurred at midnight, while that of cortisol at six in the morning.
Tag the extracted milk. A advice of the authors to maximize the benefits of the extracted breast milk and avoid negatively influencing the circadian rhythms of the infant is to classify the sachets or jars where it is preserved: “Put a label that indicates” morning “” afternoon “or” evening “and administer it accordingly could contribute to align the extraction and administration times, preserving the natural hormonal and microbial composition of the milk, The microbiologist Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, one of the authors.
The right rhythm. Respecting this simple rule could be particularly important for babies, whose biological watch is still maturing and to which it is important to dictate precise sleep-wake rhythms.
Although the study was conducted on a too reduced sample to take into account potentially relevant demographic factors such as the mother’s diet and the type of birth, what has been discovered suggests that to maximize the natural biological alignment it is enough to administer the breast milk extracted at the right times.
