Gut Health

Is Stress Affecting Your Breastmilk?

How to soothe your stress for a calmer, healthier baby

Life is stressful and even more so for new moms.

On top of all the regular everyday problems the world throws at you, you’re probably running on no sleep…not eating enough…dealing with post-pregnancy hormone surges…and facing a whole host of new mom worries.

That stress can make you feel antsy and edgy. It can make your head ache and your heart pound. And it can make your fight-or-flight responses kick in, releasing all sorts of hormones and survival compounds.

When you’re breastfeeding, all of those stress chemicals can pass to your baby. And you can just imagine how much that doesn’t help the situation.

And while you can’t stop life from throwing stressors your way, you can help your body manage stress more effectively…and keep that stress chemical stew from affecting your baby.

Breast Milk Delivers More Than Food

Your breastmilk carries essential nutrition to your baby. It’s rich in proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals, and so much more.

Along with providing your baby with calories and critical nutrients, breast milk also contains:[1,2,3]

All of these compounds help keep your baby healthy and happy.

But stress can change your milk composition and have a big effect on your baby.

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Stress Changes Breastmilk

When your body experiences stress, it sets off a slew of biological reactions. Your body’s stress response goes into the classic fight-flight-freeze mode to try to protect you. This system can’t tell the difference between an overdue bill and being chased by a tiger…so it goes into protection mode whenever it senses any kind of stress.

So you get flooded with hormones like cortisol and adrenaline designed to help you escape from danger.

Those stress chemicals affect your body in many ways, especially when you feel stressed often or for prolonged periods. They can interfere with milk production and composition, especially disrupting the natural proportions of milk fats.[4]

And your stress hormones also show up in breast milk[5]…and in the baby.[6] That can lead to a fussier baby who’s harder to soothe. And with prolonged stress, cortisol and other stress chemicals may cause your baby to gain excess fat, which can lead to lifelong issues with weight management and blood sugar control.[7]

Stress Alters Your Microbiome

One of the areas hardest hit by stress is the gut microbiome, the trillions of bacteria in your gut. A healthy microbiome contains a diverse population of beneficial probiotic bacteria, along with a few pathogens.

Those probiotic bacteria contribute to your overall wellness in dozens of ways including proper immune system function and production of short chain fatty acids that promote wellness and help manage healthy inflammatory responses. They also flow through your breastmilk into your baby, helping seed their gut microbiomes with beneficial bacteria. Your gut microbiome composition has a strong influence on your baby’s gut microbiome

But if stress knock