WHAT IS COLOSTRUM
Colostrum is the first stage of breast milk, which is usually produced during pregnancy and stops few days after birth, colostrum is usually yellow or light orange. it is a milky fluid that is produced by humans and animals before breast milk is produced, it’s feed with nutrient-dense, easy to digest, full of protein, plays an important role in developing the immune system, and contains a high level of antibodies which helps to fight bacteria and infection.
Colostrum helps to improve the growth of newborn children and newborn animals, though humans and animals produce colostrum, supplements can be produced from a cow which can be consumed in other phases of life. Colostrum development can start as early as the second trimester of pregnancy.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF COLOSTRUM
- COLOSTRUM FIGHT INFECTION AND BACTERIAL: colostrum contains white blood cells which serve as a guard against infectious diseases and also produces antibiotics that neutralize bacteria or diseases which the antibiotics help to prevent stomach upset and diarrhea and it colostrum helps to prepare the child for any new challenges from the environment, it also helps in killing harmful microorganisms
- IT SUPPORT THE IMMUNE SYSTEM AND GUT FUNCTION: The colostrum is rich in an important antibody known as slgA, that shields the child against diseases, it lines the child's gastrointestinal tract and not allowing it to pass through the bloodstream, molecules in the mother serve as an immune defense against infection and any form of diseases and are transferred from her blood to the breast, it is joined together to form slgA and it’s secreted into the mother’s colostrum.
- IT HELPS THE BABY TO GROW AND DEVELOP: The colostrum consist of components that play different roles in the body which helps the child grow and develop, the colostrum remains the same and maintain the same composition till after 30mins of childbirth, it is high in protein and relatively low in lactose and also helps to provide a nutritional boost to baby's that are born prematurely.
- COLOSTRUM HELPS PREVENT JAUNDICE: colostrum prevents stomach upset, it also works like a laxative that makes the baby poo regularly which helps to empty the newborn bowel of anything indigested while in the room in form of meconium, dark sticky stool. Pooing regularly helps to reduce the risk of a newborn having jaundice, babies are born with a high level of red blood cells that takes oxygen around the child's body. When the red blood cells break down, the liver processes them, creating a byproduct known as bilirubin, the newborn liver is not developed enough to process the bilirubin it gathers up in the system to cause jaundice, the laxative components in the child helps to flush out the bilirubin.
- VITAMIN AND MINERALS IN COLOSTRUM: what gives the yellow color is the carotenoid and vitamin A in the colostrum, vitamin A is significant for a baby vision and deficiency is the major cause of blindness, it also helps to maintain the child skin and healthy immune system, children are usually born with low vitamin A so the colostrum helps to increase it.
Contains minerals which include magnesium that support the body heat and bones and also has zinc and copper that builds the immune system and zinc always helps for rapid brain development.