Hello and welcome to a new series of the Zero to Finals podcast where we'll be talking about

pediatric development. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about

nutrition and you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash nutrition

or in the development section of the

Zero to Finals Pediatrics book. So let's get straight into it. Let's start by talking about

breast and bottle feeding. The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding

for the first six months of life. A big benefit to breastfeeding is that it's free.

Issues with breastfeeding, such as poor milk supply,

difficulty latching, discomfort or pain for the mother

can lead to inadequate nutrition for the baby.

Both breastfeeding and bottle feeding can lead to overfeeding. However,

overfeeding is much more common in bottle fed babies. Breast milk contains antibodies that help

protect the neonate against infection. Breastfeeding has been linked to reduced infections

in the neonatal period,

better cognitive development,

lower risk of certain conditions later in life,

and a reduced risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

Breast and bottle-fed babies appear to have slightly different body compositions,

and children and adolescents that were breastfed

appear to have less obesity. There is evidence that breastfeeding can reduce breast

cancer and ovarian cancer risk in the mother. It's not clear how far the benefits of breastfeeding

can be attributed to differences in socioeconomic factors

...