All you need to know about breast milk and how the Coronavirus affects it

All you need to know about breast milk and how the Coronavirus affects it

 

We all know how important breast milk is in building a child's body and protecting it from many diseases, and a recent study found that breast milk also plays an important role in treating Corona patients, so you can benefit from breast milk that was infected with the Corona virus, and therefore we offer you everything that matters to you about breast milk. And its relationship with the Corona virus in terms of treatment or infection is as follows.

 

1- What is the nutritional value of breast milk in general?

 

Breast milk contains a large percentage of water, with water being 88% water.

It contains two types of protein, whey protein and casein protein.

 Whey protein and casein protein use them for their anti-infection properties and help prevent disease.

Whey protein contains proteins such as lactoferrin, as well as lysozyme.

It also contains various carbohydrates and sugars such as lactic sugar, which is the most concentrated type of carbohydrate in breast milk, and this type of sugar has an important role in supplying the infant with energy, especially stimulating the child's brain.

Breast milk also contains fats that improve the taste and attachment of milk to it.

And it contains a wide range of various vitamins beneficial to the health of the child in its first months.

It contains probiotics known as probiotics.

It contains a group of minerals important for the child's body.

2- The first stage How does breast milk form?

 

Milk formation begins in the early stages of pregnancy, when changes in the shape, size and color of the breasts are among the first signs of pregnancy.

Some oily fluid begins to come out of the breast, smelling like the amniotic fluid surrounding the fetus in the womb, which makes it accept to feed from its mother’s chest as soon as it comes out of the womb.

The oily fluid works to protect the breasts from infection during pregnancy.

The size of glandular tissue in the breast doubles during the second or third trimester of pregnancy, or after birth.

After birth, the secretion of the hormone milk begins, as signals are sent from the pituitary gland in the brain, and the mother feels motherhood, which stimulates breastfeeding.

3- What are the factors that increase breast milk:

That the mother takes vitamins during pregnancy.

Reducing the intake of saturated fats during pregnancy and lactation.

Increase your intake of foods containing omega-3, such as fish.

Frequent drinking of water, fluids and natural juices.

Providing the mother's breast to the child whenever he asks for it, and also not allowing him to sleep for long periods and not feeding in order to stimulate milk production.

For the mother to switch breastfeeding from each breast to form milk in them.

Not to eat foods that change the taste of milk, such as onions and garlic.

4 - 4 factors that lead to change and decrease in breast milk:

 

The mother took some medications that reduce milk production.

The mother's psychological state, such as stress and anxiety.

The mother does not take in an amount of fluids and foods that stimulate the production of milk.

The use of artificial feeding in conjunction with breastfeeding, which helps to reduce milk.

5- Benefits of breast milk in the treatment of corona virus:

 

A recent study showed that isolating the antibodies of nursing mothers who survived the Coronavirus has great medical benefit.

It is possible that some patients will be injected with these antibodies that are isolated and separated from the breast milk of a nursing mother who has recovered from infection with the Corona virus, and thus treatment is achieved for some infected patients.

6- A final question: Is the Corona virus transmitted through the breastfeeding mother of the infant?

 

An important question and concerns a lot, and here the World Health Organization indicated that it has not yet been discovered that the presence of the Covid-19 virus, that is, the active Corona virus in the mother's milk, of any mother with this disease, whether her case is confirmed or probable.

Therefore, the mother with Corona should continue breastfeeding, taking the usual means of care and protection, such as washing hands well.

There are those who express breast milk and introduce it to the baby from a distance.