Mamels life animal

In the first hours and days after a human baby is born, mothers aren’t producing the white biofluid that typically comes to mind when we think about milk. They synthesize a yellowish milk known as colostrum or “pre-milk.” Colostrum is the first substance human infants are adapted to consume, and despite being low in fat, colostrum plays many roles in the developing neonate (1). Historically and cross-culturally, colostrum was viewed very differently than it is amongst industrialized populations today. Colossus Colostrum A colossus is not just something large, it can be “something of great power, influence, or importance.” Colostrum, the smallest drops for the tiniest tummies, effectively fits this definition because of its substantial effects on organizing the infant’s health, metabolism, and microbiome. At birth, babies are first appreciably exposed to maternal and environmental microbes while they have relatively naïve and immature immune systems.  During this neonatal per

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