I would like to deepen an aspect related to the phenomenon of symbiosis between man and his microbiota: how breastfeeding promotes the formation of a microbiota in the newborn.
Our body is a complex system which sees the symbiotic presence of a huge amount of viruses, bacteria and fungi.
All these symbionts make up the so-called human microbiota.
Each part of our body has its own particular subsystem of "guests": forehead and armpits have the most numerous, but least variegated microbiota; the hands instead usually see the presence of many different bacteria, but their total number is less.
While the microbiota present on the skin and scalp seems to be fundamental for the skin, other areas of our body have a fundamental importance for the general health of our body.
In particular, what is of central importance is the intestinal microbiota.
According to recent estimates, every human being is in symbiosis with a few billion (there are those who venture 100 billion!) Of guests who accompany him throughout his life.
But how does this complex symbiosis arise, where does it originate from?
The microbiota, especially the intestinal one, from the first days of life, as is obvious, depends largely on nutrition, in a nutshell on whether or not the baby is breastfed naturally.
Breast milk, in fact, represents the vector for the baby of the first bacterial source for colonization of the intestine, that is, it creates the foundations of its future intestinal microbiota.
Breast milk contains, among many other substances, pre-biotic details that seem to have the only specific function to maintain the bacterial flora until the baby has entered the intestine.
Breast milk immediately makes children more rarely affected by colitis, precisely because it favors an initial supply of intestinal bacterial flora from the first days of life.
Already after a month, the differences, in terms of intestinal microbiota, between a breastfed baby and a baby who is fed exclusively with infant formula are very significant.
The bacterial flora of the former is already quite stabilized and dominated by bifidus-type bacteria, while enterococci and clostridia, responsible for various intestinal pathologies, are absent or almost.
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On the contrary, the child who has taken exclusively infant formula has a more complex bacterial flora, in which therefore the bifidus have not been able to prevail over the rest of the microbiota, often composed also of staphylococci, escherichia coli, clostridia and many others.
The ratio of bifidus between breastfed babies and cannot reach 10/1!
These differences not only affect the first months of life, but are a determining factor, although certainly not the only one, for diseases such as:
intestinal inflammation, obesity, gastroenteritis, infections in general, diabetes, allergy, dermatitis and even asthma and celiac disease.
Unfortunately, although the practice of breastfeeding is highly recommended by WHO, fewer mothers are investing time, effort, physical pain, etc. in this natural care of your child; I believe that knowing exactly how fundamental it can be to the health of your child is fundamental to making a conscious choice on this issue.
