Well, we all know the importance of mother’s milk for their babies. Here I am providing some studies and facts to support this saying. Various studies conducted so far show that breastfeeding in early days of baby improves IQ, academic achievement and working memory of infants in their later life.
There are various studies conducted to determine the connection of mother’s milk intake with the neurological outcomes at the term equivalent and seven years of the age, in every preterm infants.
A new research conducted on 180 pre-term babies from birth to age 7. They found that pre-term babies fed with more mother’s milk in the first 28 days of their birth have improved qualities.
They have better IQ, memory, deep nuclear gray matter volume, motor functions and academic achievement by the age 7. These findings published in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Hence it is necessary for the pre-term babies to get the mother’s milk during their neonatal intensive care unit hospitalization (NICU). It is not important for only mothers but also for friends and family members and hospital employees.
So that they provide the support that’s required at that time when mothers are the under stress and also working so hard to produce milk for their babies.
Researchers also studied infants born before the 30 weeks gestation who were in the Victorian Infant Brain Studies from 2001-2003. They also determined the number of days the infants received breast milk.
Because, more than the 50% of their nutritional intake, they get from the mother’s milk, from birth to 28 days of their life.
Furthermore, researchers also examined the data related to the regional brain volumes measured using the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the each baby’s equivalent age and at 7 years old. They also paid their attention at the motor testing and cognitive testing like IQ, mathematics, reading attention, language, working memory and visual perception, at the age of 7.
The results show that among all babies who received a large amount of mother’s milk for more days during their NICU hospitalization, at equivalent age and by the age seven, have great deep nuclear gray matter volume. It is the part which is important for transmitting and processing neural signals to other parts of the brain. These infants performed better in mathematics, IQ, motor functions test and working memory.
Hence ingestion of more mother’s milk is related to better outcomes in babies including great regional brain volumes at term equivalent and better cognitive outcomes at the age 7.
Researchers said it is also important to realize that there are other many factors that influence the baby’s growth and development, with mother’s milk being one of them.
The study suggests that babies which get mother’s milk in large quantity during their first month, have the higher IQ in the later life. So there is a need to understand the importance of mother’s milk for their babies. As it improves cognitive and motors functions of babies in their later age.
Studies suggest that the mothers of the pre-term babies have problems in breastfeeding so they need support to meet their own feeding goals. Hence it is important for the family to provide their full support so that mother can overcome their stress and try to produce milk for their babies.
Hence for the overall growth and development of the baby, mother’s milk intake is important in early days of its life.
Also, read:
Does your baby sweat while Breast Feeding?
Does Breast Feeding Cause Saggy Breasts?
Hope the above – mentioned information is useful for you.
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