Nutrition Science and Everyday Application - beta v 0.1

NUTRITION IN EARLY INFANCY 589
adapted to meet the nutrient needs of young infants, and infant formula is also designed
and regulated to ensure that it is safe and provides adequate nutrition. Any other substitute,
including cow’s milk, goat’s milk, plant-based beverages such as soy milk, homemade infant
formula, or watered down formula, should be avoided. These do not provide the right
balance of nutrients to meet infants’ requirements and can cause serious problems such as
damage to the intestines or kidneys. 2
Choosing breastfeeding or formula-feeding
The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as many
other health organizations, recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed (only receiving
breast milk, with no formula or other foods) for about the first 6 months of life. Breast
milk is considered the optimal source of nutrition for infants, but it also contains many
other bioactive molecules, including immunoglobulins (or antibodies), hormones, enzymes,
growth factors, and protective proteins. 3 In addition, breast milk contains special
carbohydrates, called human milk oligosaccharides, that are indigestible to infants (they lack
the enzymes to break them down) but help to establish a healthy gut microbiome by serving
as a food source for friendly bacteria and binding up harmful bacteria. 4
Breastfeeding is beneficial to babies in many ways; it reduces a baby’s risk of
gastrointestinal, respiratory, and ear infections, and it may also protect babies from sudden
infant death syndrome (SIDS), eczema, and asthma. It is also associated with a small increase
in IQ and a reduced risk of obesity later in childhood. In addition, breastfeeding benefits
the health of mothers; it’s associated with a reduced risk of hypertension, type 2 diabetes,
and breast and ovarian cancer. 3 However, it’s important to note that most of the data
on benefits of breastfeeding come from observational studies, and these studies have
many confounding factors. Women who breastfeed tend to have higher incomes, be more
educated, be older in age, and are more likely to be white compared with those who don’t
breastfeed. This means breastfed babies are often born with more advantages beyond how
they are fed, so it can be difficult to separate correlation from causation in studies of infant
feeding outcomes. 5