Colostrum — first natural vaccine for the newborn
Breast milk is the best food for the infants and it starts with colostrums. It is a thick yellowish highly nutritious essential food for the newborn, start to secret prior and immediately after delivery.
Colostrum serves as first natural vaccine as it contains antibodies, rich in proteins and other essential nutrients and protects the baby in various ways.
Newborns have very immature digestive systems, and colostrum delivers its nutrients in a very concentrated low-volume form. It has a mild laxative effect, encouraging the passing of the baby's first stool, which is called meconium. This clears excess bilirubin, a waste-product of dead red blood cells, which is produced in large quantities at birth due to blood volume reduction, from the infant's body and helps prevent jaundice.
It also contains antibodies and other protective factors called immunoglobulins such as IgA, IgG, and IgM, enzymes that protect baby from many diseases.
Statistics show that starting breast feeding with in an hour of birth saves one million newborn deaths globally. However, due to superstition, many ignore colostrum and discard this highly nutritious food and do not allow newborn to feed the colostrums considering it as witch milk.
Give exclusive breast milk in first six months to your baby, not even a single drop of water and thereafter start complementary feeding right in quantity and quality. Continue breastfeeding for two years along with complementary feedings to get the maximum benefit.