Breast milk is the most essential part of a young infants needs in order for it to adapt to conditions and grow. The nutrients that are included in breast milk cannot be listed exactly to the last detail since we do not know all the benefits that it has. Practically there is no other alternative or alternatives that can be used to replace the effects of breast milk on a growing infant. Other substitutes may not be able to match the nutritional levels.

Contents of breast milk

Breast milk is rich in proteins and contains exactly sixty percent of whey and forty percent of casein. These types of proteins are easily digestible for the baby unlike artificial milk. Other types of proteins and their benefits are:
 

• Lysozyme
  This protects the infant against salmonella and E.coli. It also prevents allergies.
• Bifidus factor
  This encourages lactobacillus which creates an acidic environment killing harmful bacteria.
• Lactoferrin
  This obstructs growth of iron-dependant bacteria in the intestines.
• Fats
  Fats are the type of nutrients that yield the greatest amounts of energy. Breast milk contains plenty of fat to let babies develop their brains and accelerated physical growth. The breast milk when the child gets older has shown to contain more lipids in order to help the child from even faster in a much shorter time span. Fat soluble vitamins are taken in to the baby in this method and long chain fatty acids are required for developments in vision and brain development.
• Vitamins
  Vitamins are an essential component for a growing baby just as it is for an older child. The baby will receive all the vitamins the mother takes in daily. Vitamins A, D, C, E and K are among them.
• Lactose
  This is another essential component which also is like fat and provides the baby with calories. It also helps absorption of essential minerals into the body and promoting healthy bacteria growth within the gastro intestinal tract. Breast milk is the ultimate baby food since it is ideally designed to supply the baby’s needs in nutritional aspect as well as provide protection.

By popular belief it is recommended that a young toddler should be breast fed for the first six months of life and after that maybe up to a year. Breast milk has components which make the baby immune to dangers it can face in the early stages. Being passively immune to diseases is something that breast milk can provide you with. This basically means that you are being immune to a disease like in an instance after being cured of it once; you will be immune to it ever after. In the babies case it will be immune without getting the disease at all. It is even found by scientific studies that breast milk can even prevent a child from being asthmatic or obese, diabetic in his later life. The constituents of breast milk are not the same during the whole nursing period. A combination of nutrients and protective components are released from the mother’s breasts to suit the needs of the baby