New research from the University of Extremadura in Badajoz, Spain, has shown that the composition of breast milk changes over the course of the day to help babies sleep at night. Naturally occurring chemicals called nucleotides, which have previously been linked to sleepiness, were found to be at their highest levels at night-time.
Researchers tested the breast milk of 30 mothers who had been breast-feeding for at least three months. Samples of milk were collected
before each feed over a 24-hour period, with between six and eight samples collected per mother.
The scientists also noted that this may have an impact on when mothers express their breast milk and feed it to their baby, as milk expressed
in the morning may not help a baby to sleep as well as milk expressed in the evening.
Read more about this research at New Scientist
From
http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/items/item_detail.asp?item=604
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