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Colostrum
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Colostrum is the first milk. During the week that follows delivery the mother secretes this thick yellow fluid, loaded with antibodies, the proteins that recognize microbes, and with immune cells, the body's defense cells.
What is surprising is the amount: over the first two or three days it comes to about 30 to 60 milliliters a day, a very small volume. But it is very rich in white blood cells and in immunoglobulin A, one of those antibodies. Think of a small first shipment that arrives loaded with defenses.
It also carries growth factors, molecules that make tissues mature, and these promote maturation of the lining of the intestine.
Colostrum does not last. Between days 7 and 14 it turns into transitional milk, and the mix changes: mature milk carries more carbohydrate and less protein.
In brief
During the first week after delivery the mother secretes colostrum, a thick yellow fluid loaded with antibodies and immune cells.
Over the first two or three days it comes in small amounts, about 30 to 60 milliliters a day, very rich in white blood cells and immunoglobulin A.
A small first delivery that arrives loaded with defenses.
It carries growth factors that mature the lining of the intestine.
Between days 7 and 14 it becomes transitional milk; mature milk has more carbohydrate and less protein.
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingPhysiology, Breast Milk, StatPearlsPublished
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