One of the key benefits of breastmilk over formula current is the immune benefits being passed from mother to child. Why is it not possible to artificially create antibodies etc and add it to formula? Formula already has the other nutritional benefits. And babies who take donated breastmilk are fine, so the immune benefits exist even if it’s not from the baby’s own mother.
In: Chemistry
As always there’s lots of people saying that the important thing is that baby gets fed. Which is great. But if we’re aiming for optimising results:
Breastfeeding has long-term benefits for your baby, lasting right into adulthood.
Any amount of breast milk has a positive effect. The longer you breastfeed, the longer the protection lasts and the greater the benefits.
Breastfeeding can help to reduce your baby’s risk of:
infections, with fewer visits to hospital as a result
diarrhoea and vomiting, with fewer visits to hospital as a result
sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
obesity
cardiovascular disease in adulthood
Giving nothing but breast milk is recommended for about the first 6 months (26 weeks) of your baby’s life.
Health benefits of breastfeeding for mums:
Breastfeeding and making breast milk also has health benefits for you. The more you breastfeed, the greater the benefits.
Breastfeeding lowers your risk of:
breast cancer, ovarian cancer, osteoporosis (weak bones), cardiovascular disease and obesity.
The thing is that breast feeding is bespoke for each child and mother, and replicate that level of precision of each family would be cost prohibitive and probably technically impossible tbh. Most of the ingredients in formula milk would be low risk if missdosed into the formula, but once you start messing about with more complex antibiotics and the like, overdosing and damage becomes a lot more likely.
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