There are optimal times of day to feed pumped breast milk to your baby, scientists discover
Research finds that the timing of breast milk feeding may impact your baby’s health
- Researchers have discovered that feeding babies pumped breast milk at specific times of day, aligning with their circadian rhythm, can enhance their health and sleeping patterns.
- The composition of breast milk varies throughout the day, with hormones such as melatonin peaking around midnight and cortisol being highest in the morning.
- Dr. Melissa Woortman from Rutgers University explained that these hormones, which regulate sleep and stress, transfer into the milk from the mother's bloodstream.
- Providing expressed breast milk at a time corresponding to when it was pumped is particularly advantageous for infants, especially those whose sleep patterns are still developing.
- Experts suggest labelling stored breast milk with the time it was expressed (e.g., “morning,” “evening”) to help align feeding times and maintain the milk's natural hormonal and microbial balance.