A little milk and then to bed

A recent study, conducted by researchers at the University of Extremadura (Spain), clarified how breast milk helps babies fall asleep. The pages of the Journal of Nutrirional Neuroscience described the study, which analyzed the composition of milk throughout the day, demonstrating that it varies significantly over the course of twenty-four hours. In particular, nucleotides, important sleep regulators in children, are more abundant during the night. The Spanish researchers focused on the concentration of three nucleotides (adenosine, guanosine and uridine) in samples of breast milk taken at different times of the day, detecting the highest amount during between 20 and 8. “This allowed us to understand that milk induces sleep in children,” said Cristina Sà¡nchez, first author of the study. “You would never offer someone coffee at night and the same goes for milk, which has specific ingredients for the day that stimulate the baby's activity and other nocturnal components that help him rest” . Breastfeeding benefits both the newborn and the mother. In fact, as pointed out by the World Health Organization itself, mothers lose the weight acquired during pregnancy faster and are less likely to develop anemia, hypertension, breast cancer, osteoporosis and postpartum depression. Furthermore, the composition of the milk varies throughout the day to respond to the baby's needs, allowing it to be supplied with everything it needs in the first six months of life. At the same time, its components protect the newborn from many diseases (such as colds and diarrhea) and prevent the onset of others in later life (asthma, allergies and obesity); finally, breast milk promotes intellectual development. Many mothers pump milk for their baby and save it for times when they can't breastfeed. However, to ensure proper nutrition it is necessary to feed the baby milk that has been withdrawn at the same time it will be used. If not, it seems, many parents will have to prepare for long sleepless nights. Source: Sà¡nchez, Cristina L. et al., “The possible role of human milk nucleotides as sleep inducers” . Nutritional Neuroscience Vol. 12(1):2-8. 2009.