What does breastmilk contain?

Nowadays, human milk is defined as a biological system, rather than just food, and is considered a medical resource. Nature has long provided children with personalized medicine from the first day of life! When it was already thought that all the secrets of human milk had been discovered, 21st century brought incredible insights into the composition and roles of human milk and opened the door to numerous new researches.

There is no bad breastmilk!

It changes according to the child's needs during breastfeeding and during the period of child growth and development. According to its characteristics, and depending on the time of production, we distinguish between colostrum, transitional and mature milk.

• Colostrum is the milk that mom produces in the first few days after giving birth. It is a thick, sticky, clear to yellowish liquid. It contains more water, proteins, enzymes and vitamin A, and less lactose, fat and water-soluble vitamins. Its main role is protective (it contains immunological components: IgA, lactoferrin and leukocytes), so it represents the first vaccine. It helps in passing the first stool - meconium. 
• Transitional milk is produced from 6th to 15th day. Its role is less protective and more nutritional 
• Mature milk is produced after 15th day. It contains less protein, and more fats and carbohydrates, as well as vitamins and minerals. It is thinner and white in appearance; it may seem to too thin, watery, transparent, not of good enough quality for your baby. Don't be afraid, your milk follows your baby’s needs!

Breastmilk composition is not constant!

During a meal, the first milk is thinner and lower in fat, and it serves to quench the baby's thirst - foremilk; it is followed by thicker milk, higher in fat, so that the baby can satisfy his/her hunger unhurriedly - hindmilk.  It is important that breastfeeding lasts long enough for the baby to get enough high-fat milk, necessary for energy and growth. During the day, fat content is the highest early in the morning and late in the afternoon. Breastmilk composition follows the needs of the child - it changes depending on the child's age of, season, child's sex - milk for girls and boys is not the same either! The milk of preterm babies' mothers is adapted to the growth needs of immature babies in terms of its composition, especially the amount of protein and higher caloric density.

Nutritional composition of breastmilk

Your milk provides your baby with all the necessary nutrients for optimal growth and development in the first six months. Breastmilk is a complex nourishing fluid that contains fats, proteins, sugars, vitamins, minerals, antibodies, enzymes, water and many other ingredients in exactly the ratio and amount needed to ensure the baby's optimal growth and development.

• The composition and quantity of proteins, fats and carbohydrates are completely in line with the child's needs. 
• Water makes up 87% of your milk. A responsively breastfed baby thus satisfies his/her water needs and does not need to be given water, teas or other beverages.
• Your milk also contains enzymes that help digestion and utilization of all nutrients.
• Oligosaccharides - mom's sweet secret: oligosaccharides are milk superheroes; they bind bacteria and help eliminate them, regulate immune maturation and serve as food for probiotic bacteria. The vitamins and minerals from your milk are well absorbed and used.

Good to know: Some ingredients in your milk, such as vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, are not just the result of what you ate the day before but what you ate, what physical activity you had, and what types of toxins and stresses you were exposed to for many months before the baby was born.

Breastmilk is the body's best natural defense. When a baby is born, your milk is the baby's first vaccine, which helps protect him/her from infections and diseases and develop the baby's immunity. Breastmilk also contains stem cells, whose significance and role are not fully elucidated; one thing is for sure: if nature intended them for a newborn, they have an important role to play!

• Bifidogenic factors stimulate the growth of the newborn's intestinal flora. Lactose (milk sugar) and oligosaccharides (complex sugars that act as prebiotics) together have an impact on the growth of bifidobacteria and lactobacilli.
• Biomodulatory factors are a number of bioactive agents that regulate the growth, development and function of the epithelium, immune and nervous systems of the gastrointestinal tract. The ingredients in your milk affect the nutrition, growth and maturation of the baby's nervous system.

Breastmilk microbiome

• Our health and our bodies' good functioning depend on different microbial communities living in unexpected parts of our bodies. Breastmilk has long been considered sterile. Today, it is known to contain a special combination of microorganisms called the human milk microbiome. One of the assumptions is that, in this way, breastmilk prepares the child for living in the natural environment in which he/she grows up.
• A newborn's intestinal microbiome consists of the bacteria that settle in his/her colon. Breastmilk, natural (vaginal) childbirth and skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth have a positive effect on the colonization of the intestine with these beneficial bacteria.
• Milk pasteurization inactivates immune and anti-infectious factors, but the nutritional and biological components do not change. Immunological properties cannot be reproduced in formulas.

Your body produces the right ingredients in the right amounts, in the right volume of milk to always meet your baby's needs!