Mamels life animal

Last summer Angela Garbes interviewed me for an incredible essay “ The More I Learn About Breast Milk, The More Amazed I Am .” A subject we discussed was one of those things you can’t unlearn: Baby Spit Backwash. During the interview, I emphasized that the specific "baby saliva triggers immunofactors to increase in breastmilk" remains a hypothesis. But key links in this pathway have been empirically demonstrated: Artwork by Kd Neely 1) Moms increase the concentration of some immunofactors in breastmilk when babies are sick (but moms are not) (Hassiotou et al. 2013; Breakey et al. 2015). 2) When babies suckle, nipple diameter increases and  there is a vacuum with negative pressure,  delivering fluids  from the infant oral cavity — a cocktail of milk and saliva— back into the ducts of the breast. For the record the technical term for "baby spit backwash" is "retrograde milk flow" ( Geddes et al. 2008;  Geddes 2009;  Geddes et al. 2012; Ramsey et al. 2004 ).

A few weeks ago, Zac Lewis and I were writing an essay " Mother's Littlest Helpers ." To organize my thinking, I made a flow chart conceptual model of the microbial colonization of the newborn's gut.  After elaborating the model and developing powerpoint drawing skills (angry eyebrows!)...  TA DA- the 1st Mammals Suck comic! Related Posts: Pigeon milk and Microbiota  (yes, pigeon milk!) Milk Evolution and Bacterial Stowaways Mega Mammal Milk Analysis

Among many mammals, lactating females may have extended periods of time in between nursing bouts. This is often the case for females who “cache” or “park” their young in nests, dens, or burrows while they depart to forage more efficiently unencumbered by the presence of the young (parents, you know what I am talking about ). The egg-laying echidna is an excellent, if totally weird, example.  After hatching from the egg inside the mother’s pouch, the young— known as a puggle —consumes milk secreted from a patch on the mother’s tummy. Once the puggle is too large for the pouch, lactating echidnas dig nursery burrows. Here the young waits to nurse 3 to 6 DAYS between mother’s visits (1). Maternal foraging trips and inter-nursing intervals have also been well-studied in other species, particularly in seals (2) and rabbits (3).  These inter-nursing intervals lead to "high-fat" milk (aka energetically dense) (4, 5).  A comparison among prosimian primates showed that indeed the spe

Are you an anthropologist? Are you going to be in Chicago for the meetings in a couple weeks? Love lactation research?  And most importantly, do you like getting up super early in the morning? MOTHERS, MILKS, AND MEANING: INNOVATIONS IN STUDYING LACTATION, INFANT FEEDING, AND DEVELOPMENTAL ECOLOGY in HUMANS AND NONHUMAN PRIMATES Thursday, November 21, 2013: 8:00 AM-11:45 AM Barbershop (Renaissance Blackstone Hotel) From the abstract : “The goal of this panel is to bring together a range of anthropologists specializing in human and non-human primate lactation and breastfeeding to bridge this gap and explore the biological, sociocultural and structural concepts that characterize infant and juvenile feeding among humans and primates. This panel serves as an opportunity for the exchange of new ideas and novel methodology, while facilitating an increased understanding of how physiology, behavior, and social practices are reshaping our understanding of milk and breastfeeding and

In March, Nicholas Day at SLATE wrote a column about the science of breastmilk , showcasing the emerging perspective that “Milk is food; Milk is Medicine; and Milk is Signal.” People seemed particularly intrigued by the hormonal ‘Milk is Signal’ aspect of mother’s milk, although it’s the least understood. Sidebar: Why don't more kid costumes come in adult sizes.  Seriously. Recently, Skip Bartol and colleagues coined the term “lactocrine programming” to describe the process by which hormones present in mother’s milk permanently shape physiological processes within in the young (Bartol et al. 2009). A growing body of evidence has demonstrated that hormones from the mother, ingested through milk, bind to receptors within the young. Once these “maternal-origin” hormones bind, they seemingly trigger hormonal signaling cascades as would the young’s own hormones. Previously I described that hormones present in milk-specifically adiponectin - are associated with infant growth althou