Lactation is acknowledged as the method of secretion of milk from a mother’s mammary glands after she gives birth to a child. The milk proposes immunity and nutrition to the child. Glactopoiesis is considered the stage which maintains the production of milk and needs oxytocin and prolactin.
A female becomes prepared to produce milk during her 5th or 6th month of pregnancy. When women reach the later phases of pregnancy, they enter the initial phase of lactogenesis. During this stage, women’s breasts create colostrum which is a thick and yellow fluid and it is also recognized as the first milk that a baby gets.
Colostrum contains high amounts of immunoglobulin A and it improves the newborns’ immunity. Additionally, it also averts any pathogen from occupying the body of the baby. It is also helpful in preventing food allergies.
The chief functions of lactation
The primary purpose of lactation is to propose immune protection and nutrition to the newborn after birth. Because of lactation, the pair of mother-young becomes capable of surviving even when the food is too hard or scarce for the little one to attain and expand the environmental conditions that the species can tolerate.
The procedure of lactation
Lactation consultants do their job at nearly all the hospitals where newborns are delivered. First-time mothers ask the lactation consultants for visiting them. The mothers must take the phone number of the lactation consultant if they face any issues after they return home. At times, they see various lactation videos too for gaining information. However, there is not any rule that tells women the exact time to stop breastfeeding.
Babies require breast milk for nearly the 1st year of their lives and they aren’t provided any solid food for nearly six months for preventing allergies. As long as babies eat age-ideal solid foods, then the mothers might nurse for many years.