Episode 57: This Week in Breastfeeding - September 29, 2021

Welcome back to another episode of Breastfeeding Talk. I’m your host, Jacqueline Kincer. And today, I am going to bring you another edition of This Week in Breastfeeding. And, you know, my apologies, I have not done one of these episodes in quite some time. And it’s really just been not for lack of motivation. But for a while I wasn’t seeing anything super amazing in the news that I felt like was even worth doing a podcast about. But now I’m like super behind. So there is some stuff I definitely want to cover in today’s episode for you. But also, I’ve just been incredibly busy. And so I’ll just do a quick little update on what’s going on over here at holistic lactation. So I have just hired five ibclcs to take some appointments, really, I just have seen just, you know, a very, very steady flow of people wanting to work one on one with me, which is amazing. And I love doing that. And what I don’t love doing is is putting people off. So when you’re struggling with breastfeeding, you definitely don’t want to have to wait even a few days to get help. And I’ve just, I’ve just not loved having to have people wait. And so you know, I know I’m right, the right person to help them. So I’ve managed to find some incredible people. And they’re insanely skilled. And so I feel super confident about having them as part of the practice and offering telehealth visits to you all. So if you are in need of one on one support, we do that virtually here at holistic lactation. And it’s just such an amazing way to get care. And a lot of people kind of wonder, you know, is it the same as getting in person?

No, it’s not. But I will promise you, we can do everything that you need besides weighing your baby or us physically looking in your babies mouths ourselves, and palpating certain things. But the cool part is that we actually guide you to do that during the appointment, and you get to really see for yourself instead of sort of taking our word for it, which I love. So, I mean, you know, I’ve gotten babies who, you know, mom’s worked with a couple other lactation consultants already, she’s using the nipple shield, the baby still won’t really latch, and I get that baby on the bear breast in the span of an hour. It’s kind of amazing. So there’s a little bit of a little bit of a magic to it. And I didn’t start doing telehealth when COVID head, I’d already been doing it for a long time. So these are people that are, you know, familiar with my way of doing things and my processes and whatnot. And I’m just really, really just so excited and super jazzed to have them, you know, seeing families working with them, helping them, you know, doing their heart’s passion, because, honestly, I just would say that there’s just so many lactation consultants out there with so much to give. And there’s too many of them that are not busy enough doing that work. So I’m really glad to have them on. So if you’re interested in that, you know, head to the website, holistic lactation.com Shoot me an email Hello at holistic lactation.com Send me a DM over at Instagram at holistic lactation, we can get you set up. So beyond that, I did want to share some things that have been going around and address these because it’s it’s concerning, these are some problems, okay. And they really need to be addressed. This first one is not necessarily breastfeeding or lactation related, but it’s definitely going to come up in these circles. And if you’re pregnant, this is something you want to know about. So apparently, there was a study. Well, not apparently there was.

There was a study. Well, it wasn’t a study. See, I want to clarify that. So it was a consensus statement. Okay. It was an international group of experts that published a consensus statement this was last week cautioning against acetaminophen use, okay, so that’s Tylenol, paracetamol acetaminophen, it’s all Tylenol in pregnancy. So they said, you know that there is basically a call to action that we should be not recommending or telling pregnant women to avoid yet another thing Tylenol now At first glance, it sounds like whoa, you know, all this new evidence came along. You know, we need to pay attention to this, we need to change clinical protocols, all of that. I want to be clear now that this is a consensus statement. It is not a study that was done separately like to examine the effects of Tylenol during pregnancy, Tylenol has been around a very, very long time, and has a very good safety protocol profile. Okay, I’m not saying that it’s, it’s completely inert and benign. It wouldn’t do what it does if it was. So there’s always an effective drug, right. So I want to just break it down, because this is just important. Because there’s misinformation. This is how misinformation campaigns get started is a headline is posted, you know, you know, International Group publishes consensus statement cautioning against, you know, Tylenol used during pregnancy. And then people read the headline, and they go, Oh, don’t take Tylenol during pregnancy. Doctors are guilty of this too, by the way, they don’t actually read the thing. So the statement basically, just it’s a summary of experimental and epidemiological studies.

And it’s suggesting that the Tylenol use and pregnancy might keyword might alter fetal development, which might increase the risks of some reproductive urogenital and neuro behavioral neural behavioral disorders. The authors of this consensus statement, basically are just asking for precautionary action. Okay. So there’s huge limitations, though, in the studies that they referenced. One is recall bias. And this happens, where there’s basically data is collected using survey methods. So actually asking a survey participant, you know, please recall, you know, how many times you’ve used Tylenol in the past six months or something like that, right. So recall bias, people do not have accurate memories. We know this through criminal justice, and many, many other things. This has been well studied, and well documented that our memories are usually not super reliable. So recall bias, you know, someone kind of, you know, will will not have an accurate memory of whether or not they took Tylenol during their pregnancy. And the other thing is, trying to figure out whether or not it was the painful condition that was requiring the Tylenol, that actually created a link to neural behavioral problems, or if it was the Tylenol itself. And a really good example of this is that, if you know about things to be cautious about during pregnancy, then you’re aware that having a fever during pregnancy, can cause complications can cause issues with your baby. So Tylenol is a fever reducer, as well as a pain reducer. So if you’re taking Tylenol to reduce the fever, but you’ve experienced a fever, was it the fever that caused the problems? Or was it the Tylenol?

Or was it both? So when you’re you’re not ruling something out. So good levels of evidence mean that we’re able to pinpoint a direct cause and effect relationship? And these studies that they referenced, there’s this limitation that we can’t do that. Or, you know, maybe it’s pain or something, right? So there’s some sort of pain, and the mother is taking Tylenol to address that pain again, is it the painful condition, you know, that’s actually causing these problems? Or is it the Tylenol, so we don’t know. And then the other thing is that the search was not systematic. So it was limited to a single database. And all in the English language. Tylenol is used worldwide. So that’s very limiting, especially if you’re trying to come up with a consensus statement. And it was actually an international organization creating the consensus statement. So if you’re an international organization, creating a consensus statement, I would hope that you’re looking at studies in multiple languages and taking into account, you know, population differences around the world. So they did not do that.

So it’s kind of a bummer, because I really just think we could do better. And here’s the thing, look, anybody can publish a review, a study anything like that. Not everything goes through, you know, a review board or, you know, I could commission my own study. Okay. So it’s, there’s not like a huge barrier to entry, if you know how to do research. But I feel like this just absolutely does a huge disservice to the fields because again, these headlines get thrown around, right? It’s like a headline that says, you know, coffee is bad for you. And then, you know, six months later, they’re like, coffee is actually good for you. And everybody’s like, I don’t know what to do, but I like coffee. I’m gonna drink it anyway. So okay, but I do want to break this down because I think looking at the evidence and really understanding what it means to conduct Science is very important, especially amongst this pandemic time. I think a lot of people are sort of becoming novice scientists, but we want make sure you’re actually practicing good science.

So this consensus statement, okay, it had 13 expert authors, it was not endorsed by any sort of international specialists society. So just important to consider. And here’s the thing. So if we had had multiple systemic reviews or systematic reviews, and consensus among various international societies, then I think it would be prudent to update clinical practice guidelines regarding, you know, Tylenol use during pregnancy. But that hasn’t happened. This is one consensus statement, not through an organization necessarily. So, you know, like, think of an organization like, for instance, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, ACOG, you know, so they or the American Academy of Pediatrics, right, these organizations, you know, American Dental Association, for instance, these are all US based ones, but they come up with these sort of guidelines and protocols and things and and that’s how we, you know, sort of get doctors on the same page. Here’s the thing, if the authors are really truly worried about an association between Tylenol use and neurodevelopmental outcomes, why are they only looking at use during pregnancy and not on early childhood exposure to Tylenol? If you have ever had to go through a tongue tie or lip tie, or buckle tie release with your infant, then you will know that virtually everybody who does that procedure will give you dosing guidelines for giving your baby Tylenol for pain post op. Babies are recommended Tylenol as fever reducers, especially under the age of six months are under a certain weight because they cannot have ibuprofen. So Tylenol would be the only option.

In these instances. It’s widely used. Okay, so if you’re wanting to look at these neurodevelopmental effects, yes, certain medications and things, you know, obviously do cross the placental barrier. But if it’s an infant that we’re giving the medication to directly, what’s the difference between a three day old and a baby who was just in the womb? Not a whole lot, really. So it’s a huge oversight. And what it really does is it perpetuates that idea that you know, you are pregnant and you are frail, and you are fragile, and you should feel anxious and guilty about everything you put into your body. Hate that hate. That means already, you know, you’re supposed to eat up your lunch meat. By the way, I never did that. I’m not saying I recommend that. But I mean, I have known Japanese people that eat raw sushi throughout their entire pregnancy, and their kids are fine, quite honestly. So I don’t want to have like an argument about it. Don’t DM me saying you know, what you argue about, but the point I’m making is that you’re just living in fear constantly is pregnant person. And it’s just it’s horrible, right? This just adds to that.

And here’s the thing, like whether or not you agree with Tylenol use, I’m not saying it’s like healthy to take it. But it’s there when we need it. Right. There’s always a risk benefit analysis. So, you know, if you are spiking 105 degree fever, and you’re about to go into a febrile seizure, you pet your booty that you should be taking some Tylenol to bring that fever down. So, you know, what’s worse, having a febrile seizure, and, you know, going down that road or taking some Tylenol one off, you know, it’s not like, this is ideally something you’re not taking every day, I can’t imagine that there’s really any pregnant person out there who’s like, you know, chronically taking Tylenol, that would be ridiculous. So it’s one of the safest, most readily available drugs to treat pain and fever during pregnancy. So I just want to say that, you know, we want to always make sure we’re using the lowest effective dose for the shortest duration, these things are important. So when they’re looking at this, we have to weed out like, you know, are we seeing these outcomes associated with increased use or more frequent use of Tylenol?

Or is there no difference between a one time use and you know, someone who takes it monthly during pregnancy, or every other week or several times a day, that needs to be weeded out for sure. And not treating pain or fever and pregnancy, again, that is associated with adverse pregnancy and birth and child outcomes. So neural tube defects, congenital heart defects, brain issues, so I just, I just, I gotta say, I’m not convinced that we should tell pregnant women to not have Tylenol. It’s It’s just I don’t know, it’s been around for decades. If you want to look at this, if you want to look at this evidence, I don’t think doing a systematic review. Well, first of all, it’s one of the lowest forms of evidence, but I don’t think that’s really providing any sort of benefit to the general public or the medical community. If you want to study if there’s a direct connection between pregnancy and Tylenol, or pregnancy, birth, you know, infant development outcomes, then let’s do it. Let’s do it, right. But let’s do it the right way. So it’s just super frustrating to be where, you know, again, we want to be cautious. We don’t want to be over medicating, we don’t want to be using things unnecessarily, but it’s there for when we need it. So I just don’t think that a pregnant person should be putting themselves through a state of suffering, which is ultimately not healthy for them or their baby, because they saw a headline somewhere to not have Tylenol. So anyways, I think you get my point, I want to beat a dead horse.

But I just felt like that’s really, really important to address. The other one here. Oh, boy, we’re gonna get some gonna get some DMs on this. Actually, I shared this on Instagram, by the way already. So if you’re not following me there, please, please, I highly recommend you follow me on Instagram, because I try to share as much as I possibly can. Of course, you know, now that I’ve brought on some other ibclcs, I’ll have more time to invest in doing that. It’s really hard when I’m seeing patients back to back and don’t take a lunch break, to come on there and engage on Instagram. So I love chatting to people over there and doing that. But there was a viral posts going around saying that a baby experienced a bad rash. After they ingested their vaccinated mom’s breast milk. And this was a COVID vaccinated mom. There is no way that that is a correlation. And I want to say let’s, let’s assume that it’s a possibility. But let me give you what we know. Okay, so and this is I know, people have heard this adage. And I, I don’t love this phrase. But it is true that correlation does not equal causation. Do you? Do you guys remember those aptitude tests, they’d give you an elementary school where they would kind of you know, if this then that sort of a scenario, right? Like, it just requires some critical thinking, okay, but if you are getting the COVID vaccine while you’re pregnant, but especially while you’re lactating.

This has been studied there, there is no evidence and they’ve studied this like more than one time, okay, there’s no evidence that any of those vaccine ingredients enter the breast milk. The cool thing about the mRNA vaccines is that they do not contain any preservatives, there are no heavy metals, there are no ingredients that linger for a long time in the body. When that vaccine goes into the muscular tissue, very quickly, it starts going into the surrounding cells, which is why you generally have acute localized pain and inflammation in that area. Okay, I do suggest this, this is not me giving medical advice, okay. But this is something for you to discuss with whoever you’re going getting the vaccine from, and whether you’re going to, you know, Walmart, Target, Walgreens, Costco, I don’t know, wherever you or your physician’s office or some sort of vaccination center, they can give you the intramuscular injection anywhere that’s appropriate to give it so it does not have to be in your upper arm, you can ask for it in your buttocks, you can ask for it in your thigh. And if you are breastfeeding, we know that there is limp inflammation when you receive these vaccines, and so you have lymph nodes in your breast area that can cause some inflammation.

The CDC has spoken about this for a long time, like you should not get a mammogram shortly after receiving the vaccine, because it won’t be accurate because of this limp inflammation. Because your lymph nodes are part of your immune system. So they’re in overdrive producing these antibodies and immune cells by virtue of of you getting vaccinated so they’re busy, okay, so if you don’t want that to be interfering with anything near your breast at all, you can ask for it in a you know, part of your lower body and that I have not encountered anybody that I’ve said that to having any sort of pushback, pretty much anyone’s fine doing that, especially if you’re saying I’m lactating. So anyway, if it’s given further away from the breast, the odds of it entering the breast milk are very slim, but again, it’s been studied no vaccine ingredients enter the breast milk. So how would a baby get a rash from a mom who was recently vaccinated? Well, it’s not going to be from the vaccine ingredients. And I can tell you that many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many lactating people have gotten the vaccine and their babies have not gotten rashes and they drink the breast milk. So one time deal it If that’s not enough for us to change recommendations, okay, that’s not how medicine works. That’s not how science works. Should we, you know, look at this, if this becomes a pattern, absolutely. But it’s not a pattern, it happened one time. So I just want to say that basically, that’s sort of my, my piece is just, it’s basically sort of a viral video and an anecdotal story.

And this is, this is why companies like Facebook, and you know, other, you know, you know, Google whatnot are trying to limit or they put disclaimers on COVID-19 Information is because, you know, they’re trying to police this misinformation. This is not an alarm that needs to be sounded, if pediatricians were seeing this, they would absolutely be sounding the alarm, I promise you, I know many of you may not believe that. But they would. I mean, this is just, this is just not it. This is so incredibly on likely, again, could have happened one time. But there will always be that one time, right, there will always be that outlier, there will always be that n equals one. But when we look at, you know, the hundreds of 1000s millions of other people, and we just see one, that’s not enough for us to change recommendations, or any sort of protocols. So again, just I just want to share this stuff with you guys so that you can be informed to make informed decisions.

You know, I’m not here to give a preference either way, or anything like that. Although I would say I do think that getting vaccinated would be one of the best ways to protect an infant at this point, because infants still get COVID, and infants still die of COVID. And they get admitted to the NICU. And it is it is not something that you really want your baby to get. And considering that you can’t get them vaccinated directly. This is a way that they can receive passive immunity, we do know that whether you’ve been infected with COVID In the past, or you’ve been vaccinated, either way, your antibodies go into your breast milk, and they go into your baby.

Now, we do not know necessarily how long this lasts, although I am going to talk about that we kind of do but we kind of don’t, we can detect antibodies for up to 10 months after a mother has had a COVID infection. So that’s really cool. That’s some new news that just came out. But we don’t know whether or not those are actually going to be enough, a high enough level to be neutralizing antibodies. This is all new stuff. So we’re still learning. But I do think it’s really cool. So they basically, as far as the whole 10 months thing. At Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, they did this research, they collected breast milk samples from 75 mothers who recovered from COVID-19. So these were people who were you know, not asymptomatic. And they found that 88% of the samples, they contained antibodies that they believe are capable of neutralizing COVID-19. So that is super, super cool. And the main antibody in case you’re curious, you like to nerd out on stuff like this was Secretory IgA. And that actually is really, really great. Because Secretory IgA can stick to the lining of baby’s respiratory and intestinal tracts. And they can actually block viruses and bacteria from entering their bodies. So with a respiratory virus, such as COVID-19, it’s really important that we actually do have those IGA antibodies that are getting passed on. So from natural infection.

Now, I’m not saying don’t please don’t go out there and give yourself COVID. But if you’ve had it and you are breastfeeding, I would say this is one of those things you can feel really, really good about. If there’s anything positive to come from your experience with COVID. And you are giving breast milk to your baby, it’s that you’re giving them some really great protection. So I think that’s just incredible. I will link up the Forbes article that kind of goes over that study, which is just awesome. So this is something I want to bring up as well. I’m I got to say I’m just Oh, it’s this is a touchy subject, okay, because there’s a lot of back and forth here. And I don’t have access to the full text of the study. So I’m just going to speak to what I’m able to find out about this. But basically, there was a study published in the Journal of allergy and Clinical Immunology. And it was done using a multi location randomized control trial across four hospitals in Japan. And basically what they did is they looked at early formula feeding practices to determine if they if there were safe and practical ways to prevent babies from developing a cow’s milk protein allergy. They concluded that early cow’s milk formula introduction along with consistent exposure meaning not like a one time deal, may be the key word here may help prevent the development of a cow’s milk allergy. Basically, what they saw is if formulas used during the first few days, even as a supplement, and then it’s discontinued, this could have the opposite effect and increase the chances of cow’s milk allergy development later on, that aligns with what I know. Okay. I’ve got to say here that I’m just not sold on this idea that we should be giving babies cow’s milk protein for the sake of preventing an allergy later on in life.

Because that’s not necessarily the way that it works. And here’s the deal, folks, if you consumed dairy during your pregnancy, cows, your baby was exposed to cow’s milk protein, okay. And actually, that is a great way to desensitize your baby to allergy stuff. Breastfeeding is a great way to desensitize your baby to allergy issues as well. It’s highly, highly protective, when we introduce things that your baby’s body is not expecting to consume. And they bypass the gut lining. Well, because the infant gut is open for the first six months of life and they go into the bloodstream. Typically, babies really don’t start amping up or really going into antibody production till around six months, which is when the gut seals up. Okay, so this idea that we should be introducing cow’s milk formula as this regular thing. I don’t agree because that undermines breastfeeding. And I think the risk of undermining breastfeeding is far greater than the risk of someone having a cow’s milk protein allergy, there are so many dairy free options. And first of all, you don’t even need to consume dairy as part of your diet at all. Neither does your child. It’s not necessary. It is optional. There are many, many other ways to get, you know, calcium and whatever else it is that you believe about cow’s milk is beneficial. So there are many other foods that that can be obtained from. It’s just not a necessary part of the diet. Either peanuts, by the way, right. So I just want to stress that the risks of interfering with breastfeeding by offering formula supplementation, because it might prevent cow’s milk protein allergies down the road. That’s not good enough for me. It’s not it shouldn’t be good enough for you either. And so they’re they’re basically trying to, you know, you know, suggest that, well, we can still offer cows cow’s milk formula, that doesn’t compete with breastfeeding. That’s not how it works. These people must live in a bubble and have never worked with anybody who’s breastfeeding and supplementing. I’ve got to say like, it’s just, it’s bananas.

Okay. So here’s the other thing, guys, is that this is not like some huge, huge problem. Okay. What we know from studies is that cow’s milk allergies affect anywhere from point 5% to 3% of infants globally, by the time they turn one year old. This is not like 50% of babies have cow’s milk allergies, okay. genetics plays a role. And, you know, there’s many other factors, okay. So, again, this is one of those not strong evidence, things, this was only done in Japan, it was really not a huge sample size of people that they studied. So I just got really sad that this got launched. And I’ve seen it going around in, you know, OBGYN kind of circles and whatnot. And it’s really unfortunate, because I just would hate for an OB, a six week, you know, postpartum checkup to say, Hey, by the way, there’s this new study that came out that says that if you give your baby cow’s milk based formula that it will prevent cow’s milk allergies, or what mom doesn’t want to do the best for her baby. Again, this is one study, that is not conclusive. It is sort of one of those might or may be situations and again, what’s the risk? Okay. Well, the risk is, is that by introducing this formula that you actually do create an allergy to cow’s milk, protein, soy, any number of ingredients in that formula, quite honestly. Okay. The other thing is that you interfere with breastfeeding. So we know that formula supplementation, really no matter the amounts directly underlyings breastfeeding, there is a direct cause and effect relationship to that and the more formula that’s used, the sooner that you will wean from breastfeeding. Okay, so that’s like they’re trying to say that it’s not going to interfere in that you should give it regularly. But we have study upon study upon study that says that regular formula supplementation is going to lead to early cessation of breastfeeding, it’s going to lead with have more health consequences for the infant. worse consequences for the infant than some sort of cow’s milk protein allergy, the risks of using formula are pretty great. The reduction in chronic health issues such as diabetes, and just, you know, brain development, IQ, all these other things, to me just seem way more important than a food allergy that, you know, we can easily avoid. So that’s my thoughts on that.

I just, it’s interesting to me, like, I love information, but I don’t love when information is presented in a way that’s just sort of glosses over things. And by the way, there was new research presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of diabetes that was held online, because you know, that’s what’s happening during this pandemic. And they showed that breastfeeding is associated with a lower risk of developing type one diabetes, and that drinking more than two or three glasses of cow’s milk a day in childhood, is linked with higher odds of developing type one diabetes. So again, cow’s milk is not some sort of recommended or even necessary part of a child’s diet. And that child consuming dairy past the point that their gut has sealed up in infancy and whatnot, it actually can lead to them developing type one diabetes. So my question for these people that did this Japan study of formula supplementation is, how do we know and they really only went through like the first year of infancy? Okay, so how do we know that you’re not making those children more prone to type one diabetes, just like a toddler who’s consuming two to three glasses of milk a day? So I just gotta say, it’s funny when stuff comes out all at once. Because usually, you know, something confirms what I already know, is sort of established evidence out there in the field. And look, new evidence is great, right? We want to take a look at that. But it’s got to be good evidence, gotta be strong evidence, it’s got to be not a might, or maybe, you know, and if it is a minor, maybe, then that’s going to spark some other studies, to confirm those findings, or to dispute those findings. So I just, I gotta say, it’s up to you. But I just don’t think there’s anything there to convince you know, and really, this study, by the way of the European study here on the, you know, actual cow’s milk consumption beyond infancy. It’s a systematic review, it’s a meta analysis of the existing research to identify which foods are consistently linked to type one diabetes. So they’re looking for consistency. Now, they looked at 152 studies, these were the ones that were eligible, okay. And there were some decent things that they looked at. So I just want to dive into this as much as I did the other one.

And there were 27 dietary components that either, you know, increased or reduced the risk of developing type one diabetes. And this would be foods that were even, they included foods that were eaten by the mother during pregnancy, foods that were consumed during infancy, and childhood, as well as being breastfed. So they looked at all the things in my mind, okay, babies that were breastfed for longer, and those that were exclusively breastfed, so they actually separated those two out, which is like, Yay, finally, thank you for accurately studying breastfeeding, because breastfeeding is not the same as exclusive breastfeeding. But either group, both, we’re less likely to develop type one diabetes. babies who are breastfed for at least six to 12 months, we’re less than half is likely to develop type one diabetes than those that breastfed for a shorter duration. babies that were given only breast milk for the first two to three months. So this means no formula only breast milk, were 31% less likely to develop type one diabetes than those who were not exclusively breastfed. So that’s good news. Right? The more breastfeeding the longer you do it, the more risk reduction you get. So we know that this is going to happen. And the researchers talked about this in the study that breastfeeding promotes the maturing of the baby’s immune system and enhances their gut microbiota, right? Their whole microbiome in there and it helps to just regulate the digestive tract and immune system. So when when you’re now you have this foundation set, higher consumption of cow’s milk and dairy products, and it doesn’t have to be a glass of milk, butter, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, glasses of milk, you know all the things. It’s associated with a higher risk of type one diabetes.

You’re not going to convince me that, you know, feeding a baby small amounts of cow’s milk formula is, you know, the benefit of them potentially, again, maybe this is not some sort of definitive conclusion, they won’t be allergic to cow’s milk, maybe. But then we’re setting them up for type one diabetes. Again, this study is looking at, you know, there was a greater risk reduction in babies that had no formula compared to babies that had some formula and some breast milk. And so this directly contradicts, and this study is much stronger evidence in the Japan study suggesting that we should be giving babies, you know, some minor amounts of infant formula on regular basis. So the other thing I want to say here is that they didn’t just look at cow’s milk by the way, they also looked at gluten. And they found that later introduction of gluten to the diet, more than halved the odds of developing type one diabetes. So if they started, as babies eating gluten containing foods like cereal, bread, pastries, pasta biscuits, at three to six months old, they were 54% less likely to develop type one diabetes than those that had the exposure to those foods earlier than that timeframe. Now, you’re probably thinking, Who the heck is giving their baby, you know, gluten containing foods younger than three months, you’d be surprised. It happens all over the world. And it happens in industrialized countries like the US as well. So there are some products on the market, perhaps you’ve heard of them. And they have things like, they’re some sort of a powder that you mix in with breast milk. And it has very small amounts of peanuts, gluten, soy, dairy, Sinan kind of eggs, like common allergens. And the idea behind these products, there’s a couple of brands out there, I’m not going to mention them. But the idea is that by adding this into a bottle of breast milk a day that you are actually desensitizing your baby to being allergic to these things. That’s there’s no evidence really to support that conclusion. Just so you know, there was one study done on peanuts that, again, was very, very weak evidence, and it came out about four years ago. And this is sort of where this all sort of sparked interest. And I’m glad that there’s been a lot more research done on this topic since then. But again, food allergy, we can avoid exposures to food, okay, that’s a fairly easy thing to do. For most people, okay, we can avoid that we can avoid triggering things. If you happen to develop, your child happens to develop a food allergy. But what we can’t avoid is something more serious like type one diabetes, like once you’re diabetic, you’re diabetic, for the most part. So what’s more important preventing your child from getting type one diabetes, or them being allergic to something?

I mean, I don’t know about you guys, but my kids go to school and ever since they’ve gone to school, it’s every classroom is peanut free, because peanut allergies run rampant. Okay, so just want to say that there are harmful effects for early introduction of solid foods in general, but especially highly allergenic ones, like cow’s milk, gluten, and even some fruits. And what I love is that in this study, these authors weren’t like, we’re the end all be all this is a statement that we’re making this recommendation. No, they said that there is a limited quantity of evidence, and we need further high quality research before we can make any specific dietary recommendations. Again, I am going to clap for that. Because Thank you for saying the right thing. Thank you for not trying to say that we should change recommendations based on one systematic review. So I hope this episode was not too boring for you, I hope that you learned something. And again, I really just wanted to bring these topics up because they’re super important, and they’re so relevant. And there’s just a lot of marketing coming towards people, and a lot of Fast and Furious information flying around the internet. And it’s like a game of telephone, you know, so, you know, one one sort of news source, you know, rehashes what another news source said and then that gets rehashed into a social media post and that gets rehashed into a meme and just so on and so forth. And then we get these sort of, you know, ideas, that these things are true, and they’re not. There’s a lot more to it than that. So, anyway, I like to clear it up.

I like to look at the finance. I like to always be open to new conclusions. But I’m happy to see that, you know, just the difference, right? It’s just good to look at the difference between you know, what’s good evidence, what’s not. And, you know, you then you get to make your own decisions and decide. So I would love to have a conversation about this with you guys over on social media, so connect with me there at holistic lactation. If you love the show, it would mean the world to mean, if you left a review on Apple podcasts, because if anybody looks up, you know, lactation or breastfeeding, the more positive reviews that we have, the higher the show ranks needs your it’s going to get found. So we’re not sitting there at the bottom of the page and someone never scrolls to find it. So that’s really the purpose not because I want you to say how amazing I am which you know, I mean, you’re welcome to say that to wink wink, nudge nudge. No, I’m just kidding. But it’s really because I just, I like doing the show. I like to make quality episodes. That’s why I’m not always super regular about releasing them. But I do have three incredible podcast episodes that are already recorded, and in the process of getting edited to send your way. So I can’t wait for those to come out. So definitely make sure you’re subscribed to the show. And if there’s anything that you want me to cover at all, please shoot it my way. Send it over. I don’t know why I said shoot it my way. I don’t really even like that word. I don’t own a gun. That’s weird. Anyways, but if there’s anything that you ever want me to bring up, if you have a story to share, if you’re a professional listening to this, and you’d like to be a guest on the show, definitely reach out connect with me. Because the more that I can put amazing content and information out there and encouragement to any breastfeeding mom. I would just love to keep doing that and have anyone who wants to be a part of it. Join in. So until the next episode, thank you so much for listening. I hope you have a wonderful day.