🤱🏻Breastfeeding and Bacteria

📚 Recent studies have suggested that breast milk contains what is considered commensal bacteria- bacteria that are involved in the development of the intestinal architecture and immunomodulatory processes. Commensal bacteria include staphylococcus, streptococci and Lactobacillus that are found in infant guts that promote healthy gastrointestinal growth and immunological growth.

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🍼 Breast milk is the most important source of food for infants. The contents of the breast milk satisfy the nutritional and developing needs of the infant. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends strictly breastfeeding for the first six months and continues supplementation while expanding the diet to other foods until the age of 2. (Source link: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-young-child-feeding)

🦠 The digestive tract of growing children is colonized by microorganisms that largely depend on the type of delivery , for example vaginal vs C-section (Development of the human infant intestinal microbiota, PLoS Biol, 2007). The colonization of the child’s body continues during their passage through the mother’s vaginal canal, skin-to-skin contact, and breastfeeding. Also, some bacterial strains are in response from the hospital environment. In cases of cesarean section, colonization with undesirable hospital microorganisms is primarily dominant.

👶🏻 Natural childbirth is the most beneficial to promote a healthy immune system. In this case, the acquisition of the microbiota takes place during the passage of the newborn through the mother’s genital tract (Microbial changes during pregnancy, birth, and infancy. Front. Microbiol. 2016). The situation is different when a cesarean section is performed. The child is unable to acquire microbiota from the mother’s genital tract, and the first microorganisms that he or she contacts after delivery are the hospital microflora.

🏥 A Cesarean section may be required in many cases including actions that save the life of a newborn. However, this does not provide the most optimal start. One method that can be used is placing sterile swabs in the genital tract of a woman giving birth by cesarean section. Upon delivery, the swabs are then used to wipe the newborn. This attempts to colonize the child’s body with the natural microbiota of the mother, even when natural delivery is not possible or safe (Partial restoration of the microbiota of cesarean-born infants via vaginal microbial transfer. Nat. Med. 2016)

📉 There are fewer reported cases of infection among explicitly breastfed children, which could be associated with the differences in the composition of the intestinal microbiota (Breastfeeding and the intestinal microflora of the infant—Implications for protection against infectious diseases, Adv Exp Med Biol, 2000). The correct composition of the intestinal microbiota affects the appropriate immunological functioning and prevents the development of many diseases.

📊 There have been numerous studies including one completed at UBC Faculty of Medicine and University of Manitoba in 2021 confirming that bacteria are shared and transferred from a mothers milk to her infant's gut which helps in normal gastrointestinal flora growth.

“Our study confirms that breast milk is a major driver of infant gut microbiota development,” said the study’s senior co-author Dr. Stuart Turvey, a professor in UBC’s department of pediatrics and investigator at BC Children’s Hospital. “We found that breastfeeding exclusivity and duration was strongly associated with a baby’s overall gut microbiota composition and that breast milk bacteria shape a baby’s gut microbiome to a similar degree as other known modifiers of the gut microbiota such as birth mode—meaning a cesarean-section or vaginal delivery.”

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🔷 Breastfeeding benefits to mother and baby

(Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

🔹 Best source of nutrition

🔹 Protection against illness

🔹 Accessibility

🔹 Reduced risk of breast and ovarian cancer

🔹 Reduced risk of hypertension and type 2 diabetes

🔴 When NOT to breastfeed

🔻 Infant is diagnosed with galactosemia (a rare genetic disorder that cannot process milk content and can build up in the baby at toxic levels)

🔻Mother has HIV and NOT on medications and/or does not have a low viral load during pregnancy, delivery and postpartum

🔻Mother is using illicit drugs or medications (eg. alcohol, opioids, PCP, and cocaine)

🔶 When to temporarily stop breastfeeding

🔸 Mother is infected with brucellosis (bacteria contracted from animal products of sheep, cattle, goats and pigs)

🔸 Mother is undergoing diagnostic imaging

🔸 Mother has active herpes simplex virus with lesions on the breast

💊 Medications and breastfeeding

Few medications are contraindicated while breastfeeding. Although medications do pass through the breast milk into the baby, most have no known adverse effect on milk or infant health. Parents and healthcare providers should weigh risks and benefits when taking such medications.

Thumbnail image by Petra R/ pixabay

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