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Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

newyorker.com

1–10 of 53 posts

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#2
> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ”

Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#3
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

It is frozen. This can be done for cow milk as well. It changes the taste of cow's milk and (probably) changes the taste of breast milk.

It's not commonly done for cow's milk because (1) fresh milk is usually readily available and (2) adults will complain about the taste.

With breast milk, the supply is more limited and an infant won't tell you the taste is off (but they might refuse to drink it!).

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#4
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

It is frozen. This can be done for cow milk as well. It changes the taste of cow's milk and (probably) changes the taste of breast milk. It's not commonly done for cow's milk because (1) fresh milk is usually readily available and (2) adults will complain about the taste. With breast milk, the supply is more limited and an infant won't tell you the taste is off (but they might refuse to drink it!).

Seems obvious in retrospect. Wonder if the freezing adversely affects anything? Probably not.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#6
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

They say to only keep frozen breast milk for up to 3 months though.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#8
post #2

> “We got eighty litres, collected over two years, from someone random at Stanford University, who said, ‘I have all this milk. Do you guys want it?’ ” Wow... that's quite an amount. So human milk doesn't "expire"? Why does cow milk expire then, and what exactly is expiry in the context of milk?

It is frozen. This can be done for cow milk as well. It changes the taste of cow's milk and (probably) changes the taste of breast milk. It's not commonly done for cow's milk because (1) fresh milk is usually readily available and (2) adults will complain about the taste. With breast milk, the supply is more limited and an infant won't tell you the taste is off (but they might refuse to drink it!).

[deleted]

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#9
post #7

I don't understand why HN is so obsessed with gut bacteria. I don't oppose posting it, I just don't understand the fascination.

There's evidence that gut flora have a hand in many diseases including obesity, Crohn's, depression, etc. We know so little about it, as is the case with many of the details of our body's daily functions.

Re: Breast-Feeding the Microbiome

#10
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is frozen. This can be done for cow milk as well. It changes the taste of cow's milk and (probably) changes the taste of breast milk. It's not commonly done for cow's milk because (1) fresh milk is usually readily available and (2) adults will complain about the taste. With breast milk, the supply is more limited and an infant won't tell you the taste is off (but they might refuse to drink it!).

Seems obvious in retrospect. Wonder if the freezing adversely affects anything? Probably not.

The freezing process of breastmilk does destroy some of the nutrients, making it less nutritious than an infant feeding directly on breast.
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