The Science Baby

Mothers these days might be told that ‘breast is best’ when it comes to feeding their baby. But why is that the case, when infant formula has been an option for decades? What does that mean for mothers that struggle with their breastfeeding journey, and how does it affect a child in the short and long term?

In this episode, Leila and Kim dive into the chemistry of breastmilk and infant formula, as well as the science and data behind the choices you make, and how it affects your baby.

What to Expect in This Episode

Kim and Leila had very different baby feeding experiences. Kim has exclusively breastfed for five months so far, despite a rocky start, whereas Leila ended up pumping and bottle feeding for a couple of months, followed by infant formula for the rest of Science Baby’s first year. We explore how our preconceptions and birth and postnatal experiences affected our feeding choices.

Next, we go on to examine the evolutionary and cultural history of feeding our babies. Supplying milk to infants is teh thing that characterises mammals, which have been around since before the dinosaurs, but as humans we have a few fundamental differences that set us apart from other mammals. In our species’ past, a ‘village’ of supportive women would have helped to feed one another’s children, but as society has become more isolated and nuclear, we’ve moved away from this collaborative approach. At the same time, and possibly fuelling that shift, we have a scientific invention that has helped millions of women to feed their babies – infant formula.

Chemically, formula is enginereerd to be as close as possible to human breast milk, which is unique among mammals in the sugars it contains. That sugar is thought to fuel the extremely rapid brain growth in our neurologically underdeveloped infants, but it also helps to feed a developing gut microbiota, as well as supply our babies with the vitamins, minerals, and antibodies needed to keep them healthy. And incredibly, breast milk is made from the mother’s blood and bones (you’d think that might help to shift some of that baby weight, but alas, crumpets get in the way)

While the core components of breast milk and formula are basically identical, the one thing that breastmilk can do that formula can’t is respond dynamically to the needs of your baby. Between day and night, appropriate levels of sleep and wake hormones can help them regulate their circadian rhythms. As they get older, the composition of the milk changes to meet your baby’s growing energy demands. And when they’re sick, the mother’s body can respond and send appropriate antibodies to fight the infection.

Breast milk can respond dynamically to a baby, whereas formula milk does not. So what difference does it make in the short and long term? There are millions of supposed benefits to breastfeeding, including making your baby smarter, or avoiding childhood obesity, but when you look closely at the data, lots of these outcomes can be explained by other factors, not just what’s in the milk. Instead, the real benefits we see come as a result of that milk responsiveness – helping baby to avoid infections and illnesses in their early months when their own immune system is immature. But even then, the results are minor – it’s not like breastfeeding will completely stop your baby from getting ill, they might just get one or two fewer illnesses.

So our advice at the end of it is this do what’s right for you, your baby, and your family. Don’t be swayed by pressure from outsiders. Breastfeeding is a great option, but if for whatever reason it’s not for you: fed is best.

Some of the information in this episode comes from Emily Oster’s brilliant book Cribsheet, which you can buy for yourself here.

Oh, and at the beginning we chat about baby noses for a bit. If you have a snotty baby and you don’t want to clear the blockage it the old-fashioned way (with a good old suck and swallow), you can find a multitude of snot suckers out there: a terrifying motorised thingummy (aka a nasal aspirator), a simple pressure bulb, or Kim’s choice, the ‘snot pooter‘

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