Human milk (HM) is recognized for its safety, efficacy, availability and cost/effectiveness. Consequently, it is the best food for newborns, even if they are small, premature or sick.
Breastfeeding improves child survival, health and development.
HM has the potential to reduce morbidities and improve health, especially in those born extremely prematurely, as it contains bioactive substances with bactericidal, immunomodulatory, and gut maturation-inducing properties.
Among other complications associated with prematurity, HM significantly reduces feeding intolerance, late sepsis and retinopathy of prematurity and is associated with better neurodevelopmental outcomes and less obesity, hypertension and insulin resistance in adolescence.
The bioactive components of colostrum and mature milk contain anti-inflammatory and anti-infective properties for the regulation of the neonatal inflammatory response.
In low birth weight infants, not only is the dose of milk important, but also the time they receive it, and the source (ideally, it should come from their own mother). Small increases in HM supply in the first 14 days of life reduce the number of hospitalizations by the age of one year, and the number of specialized therapies required by the age of two years.
Both mother and baby benefit from the closeness that occurs during breastfeeding, as it fosters attentive and sensitive care and mutual acquaintance.
HM is an inexpensive and sustainable food that benefits society as a whole, specifically adapted for babies, at a sensitive time, when stimuli condition the expression of genes.
HM feeding provides a great opportunity to achieve the best future health.
