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In celebration of World Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7), we're thrilled to share our latest research that's revolutionising our understanding of breast milk and supporting breastfeeding mothers.
In celebration of World Breastfeeding Week (1 – 7 August), we sat down with Professor Valerie Verhasselt to ask her some of the top questions about breastfeeding and immunology.
A comprehensive review of scientific studies on the use of baby pacifiers (dummies) has found that they interfere with successful breastfeeding.
Common food allergens have been detected in breast milk with wide inter-individual variations in concentrations. As maternal factors, such as age, smoking, and body mass index have been associated with breast milk composition, we aimed to identify maternal characteristics associated with the concentration of food allergens in breast milk.
The human milk microbiome is dominated by typical oral and skin bacteria, suggesting that bacterial communities from the infant mouth and maternal skin contribute to the development of the human milk microbiome. It is postulated that breastfeeding characteristics, such as breastfeeding frequency and duration, could lead to different levels of exposure to oral and skin bacteria, and subsequently, altered bacterial profiles in human milk.
In this review, we will highlight infants' immune responses to food, emphasizing the unique aspects of early-life immunity and the critical role of breast milk as a food dedicated to infants. Infants are susceptible to inflammatory responses rather than immune tolerance at the mucosal and skin barriers, necessitating strategies to promote oral tolerance that consider this susceptibility.
Early life feeding practices have an influence on motor development outcomes into late childhood and adolescence independent of sociodemographic factors
This study highlights the importance of human milk in providing anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 immunity to newborns. The highest protective activity of human milk against COVID-19 was found in colostrum from infected mothers.
Eight The Kids Research Institute Australia researchers are among those who have received grant funding from the Telethon-Perth Children’s Hospital Research Fund (TPCHRF).