In May 2023, the family I had been nannying for over a year welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. This was an incredibly unique experience for me. Before this, I never had the opportunity to aid in the nurture and care a baby requires to grow. From the mother, I learned methods and rules vital for helping the baby adjust, especially in the first few months of the baby's life. Many of the things I learned left me feeling astounded that I was not priorly taught them, whether in education or even from the mothers and women in my life growing up. I wondered if I had never had the opportunity to learn from this mother and her baby, I would never have known, and instead, I would have to refer to those archaic lectures found in texts such as What to Expect When You’re Expecting.
The most fascinating aspect of new motherhood that I gathered was breast milk. Breast milk has an enormous number of benefits, so much so that I regularly wonder how it is not talked about all the time in any setting. I think many people who read that would think to themselves something like, ‘Of course, it's important; the baby needs it to live,’ and yes, that's true. It helps the baby live and grow and fills it with all the necessary nutrients. Yet this only scrapes the surface of just how magical breast milk is.
Along with breast milk, sleep is crucial for the baby. This may also seem like a no-brainer, and it should be: newborns require 12 to 18 hours of sleep a day. However, for many mothers, caregivers and even newborns, that is easier said than done. According to a review titled Parental Cognitions About Sleep Problems in Infants: A Systematic Review, the prevalence of infant sleep problems ranges between 20-30%.
Recently, I have learned that breast milk can naturally instill a circadian rhythm in newborns, helping develop a structured sleep schedule and ensuring deeper and longer sleep for the baby. The mother I nannied for both breastfed and bottle-fed her newborn. What I wish I had known then and only recently learned is the importance of separating breast milk based on the time of day it was pumped.
When we grow and become adults, we depend on night and day to regulate and establish our circadian rhythms. It's how we know when to expect night and day, how to regulate temperature change, adjust to noise and when to expect to be hungry. Infants do not develop a circadian rhythm until eleven weeks after birth. Breast milk actually has the power to transfer the mother's circadian rhythm to the newborn.
For those caregivers and mothers who pump, this can be achieved by first understanding the benefits of morning vs. evening breast milk.
Morning milk is high in the hormone cortisol. Cortisol helps the baby know to be alert and awake. In an article by Cradlewise, cortisol is referred to as "nature's in-built alarm system in our own [bodies]." Cortisol production begins six weeks after a baby is born and peaks in breast milk around 7 a.m. Beginning with cortisol-high milk is the first step in instilling a circadian rhythm, as cortisol naturally begins to drop down as the day goes on. The feeds after this one will contain less cortisol, therefore naturally helping the baby to wind down.
Evening breast milk is high in the hormone melatonin, which is the body's natural signal that it's time to sleep. Melatonin peaks in breast milk at 3 a.m. Continuing with the article from Cradlewise, melatonin is not naturally found in breast milk; however, it passes in from the mother's body, which produces it. Since babies do not begin melatonin-producing until the third or fourth month of life, this natural decline in cortisol throughout the day until melatonin is higher in content supports the circadian rhythm by acting as the final alert before sleep.
Jacqueline Davis is a New York-based Editorial Intern at Connecting Mothers Initiative. She has a B.A. in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Tulane University. Jacqueline, a short story writer, is also a full-time Nanny.
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