Why is it recommended to breastfeed exclusively?

20 Aug

Why do doctors recommend exclusive breastfeeding?

This is in the category of unwelcome truths and I’m certainly not going to berate anyone for using formula.

In fact, if your family is already mixing formula and breastmilk you my prefer not to read, and that’s ok with me. Every drop of breastmilk you can provide for your baby is wonderful and valuable.

But, if you are ever in the situation of giving formula when expressed breastmilk could easily be available, or wondering if offering infacol or gripe water will “do no harm” the question of “Why exclusive breastfeeding”? is worth considering.

WHO recommendation:

“Infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life to achieve optimal growth, development and health.

Thereafter, to meet their evolving nutritional requirements, infants should receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods, while continuing to breastfeed for up to two years or beyond.”.

What are the reasons for exclusive breast feeding for the first six months?

Finding reliable evidence around allergy & formula is very challenging. Much of the research in this field is funded by formula companies thereore unreliable. This blog is based on my professional opinion formed from my ongoing learning, following the latest research.

The simple answer is that before around six months your babies gut is not sealed, whole proteins and pathogens from formula and other products can pass easily from the baby’s gut into the body where they can affect short and long term health. The gut flora of a baby who receives just 1 bottle of formula each 24hrs quickly becomes much closer to that of a formula fed baby, compared to a baby who receives only breastmilk. And this change may have life long effects on health. Very simple explanation is that formula undoes much of the goodness of breastfeeding (only as far as gut microbiome is concerned) -Ouch! It's a horrible fact, I myself gave my first son the occasional bottle of formula just because I had a free sample and for no other reason-I just didn't know any different at the time!

Can one bottle of formula (or more) really affect a newborn infant or derail breastfeeding? While it may sound harmless and helpful, bottles of infant formula given to newborn breastfeeding infants have been shown to interfere with the successful establishment of breastfeeding, reduce both the exclusivity and duration of breastfeeding, and alter the infant gut microbiome. One bottle of formula per day for the first week of life is enough to shift the gut microbiome toward proinflammatory taxa, a condition where gut inflammation becomes the precursor to both acute and chronic diseases and conditions such as autoimmune diseases and obesity*.

And that’s why this is something I share at all my antenatal appointments info here, because so often I meet families who gave just 1 or 2 tiny bottles in the postnatal ward, maybe on the second night***, and had no idea that they could have triggered (interesting work on this from Maureen Minchin**) allergies.

Would you would like me to visit you at home to support breastfeeding your baby? I can support with fuguring out whether formula top-up’s/mixed feeding is right for your family.

Please see the home visits info (here).

Sally