Exclusive breast feeding and food allergies in babies

There is a well-supported notion that exclusive breastfeeding prevents the development of food allergies in infants. 

However, this rule, just like any other has exceptions. Even exclusively breastfed infants can develop food allergies. The most common culprits are peanuts and cow's milk protein. Egg and wheat proteins can also cause a problem.  This happens when nursing mothers use products containing milk, peanuts, egg, and wheat in their diet when large particles of allergy-causing proteins find their way to breast milk. Just like with any food allergy, the most common manifestation is atopic dermatitis. Some infants may develop chronic diarrhea and colic-like abdominal pain. More severe manifestations, including life-threatening, are rare. The issue of indirect infant exposure to a variety of food allergens via breast milk is quite complex. 

There is evidence, that maternal consumption of peanuts during breastfeeding may actually prevent the sensitization of children to peanuts. Why in some mothers peanut consumption can cause allergies in babies while preventing the same in others? There is no good answer. 

Obviously, something is missing in our knowledge about food allergen transmission and sensitization at a very early age.

Sergey Shushunov, MD

Swaddling danger

What can make us feel more comfortable than hugging and snuggling? We all need this simple expression of love and affection. It calms us down. It makes us feel worry-free. All mammals hug and snuggle. Even snakes and birds snuggle. The reason behind it is the way the mammals, birds, and snakes develop after conception – in a confined, space of a uterus or an eggshell. We carry this need through our lives, but it is the strongest in early infancy. I doubt that a crying baby can become “spoiled” by being picked up and held tightly every time. The problem is that we can’t do it every time a baby cries. We decided to cheat on nature and invented swaddling. Swaddling is hugging and snuggling surrogate. It is known forever to work wonders for upset babies. Swaddling a baby is not hard, but it has a few tricks. In older times swaddling was a skill passed down from generation to generation. Now young parents don’t have anyone around to learn it from. The gap was filled by a multitude of companies offering swaddling garments, which require less effort and fewer skills than a blanked.

There is a small but significant difference between a baby blanket used for swaddling and swaddling garments: the fasteners. All baby garments designed to make swaddling easy use some form of fasteners, such as snaps or velcro. This could make them more dangerous with improper use. An article published by the Journal of Pediatrics in January 2014 described 36 serious incidents, including deaths, reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which was attributed to improper swaddling. In two-thirds of incidents a swaddling garment was used. The number of unreported incidents is probably many times higher.

Swaddling is good if done right – parents need to be educated on how to do it. There are risks regardless of what is used, higher with a garment and lower with a blanket. Informed and educated decision on what to use and how to use seems to be the key to safely and happily sleeping babies and parents as well.

Genetically modified food. Is it really that bad?

Almost all living creatures we use for our benefit have been genetically modified. Think of 500 breeds of dogs, some ugly as hell, 7000 varieties of apples, many of which are inedible, and 80,000 of corn. It took 10,000 years or, putting it in perspective, 400 generations of humans to breed and produce this incredible number of genetically butchered plant and animal species until someone only recently realized it could be done much more straightforward and with more precision.

Genetic engineering is a form of breeding. Clean, thoughtful, and precise – just like robotic surgery. Genetically modified organisms have their genes replaced forcefully rather than by chance of selective breeding, without waiting for one generation after another, with full knowledge of what genes should be changed to give us the result we want. Genetic engineering relies on taking a desirable gene from another animal or plant and placing it precisely in the right part of the chromosome - no waiting for several generations to see the results, no unpredictable characteristics in the offspring.

Here is the best thing: DNA is 100% digestible. Once genetically modified food passes our stomachs, the DNA derived from genetically modified foods turns into the same mixture of amino acids and carbs derived from any other food source. It gets absorbed into the bloodstream, just like amino acids and carbs derived from other molecules consumed with food.

Sergey Shushunov, MD