As you will have seen in my previous article, there are many breast milk components that serve different functions, such as sleep. They interestingly also change across the day and night to promote either alertness during the day or sleepiness at night, which you can read more on here.
Why do the components of milk matter?
Breast milk contains higher levels of cortisol and activity-promoting amino acids during the day to promote alertness, feeding behaviour, and catabolic processes in infants; and higher levels of tryptophan during the night to promote sleep. This is what sparked the creation of NiMera’s specially-formulated Day and Night formulations – developed by a group of Dads who felt that there must be better options for feeding their kids when helping out with night time feeds, and knowing the science around changing compositions of breast milk.
NiMera’s toddler milk contains high levels of melatonin and tryptophan to foster sleep, relax digestion, and support cell restoration (Sanchez, 2013, Hahn-Holbrook, 2019). Its formulation more closely replicates the differences seen between human milk during the day and night, which will likely result in helping toddlers receive the right nutrients at the right times. This helps to promote improved sleep/wake cycles in bottle-fed infants (and therefore more sleep for us parents!). It is a great option for toddlers who are transitioning to bottle-feeding, either if breast milk is being reduced or if formula is used; see more on this here.
So, let’s look more closely at tryptophan and a-lactablumin, two of the components of breast milk that help promote sleep.
Tryptophan
Tryptophan is an essential amino acid which must be consumed as part of the diet. Breast milk protein has been shown to contain a relatively high concentration of tryptophan compared with other mammalian milks, such as cows’ milk and goats’ milk. It is a precursor of the neurotransmitter serotonin and of the hormone melatonin (Cubero, 2007). Oral consumption of tryptophan modifies the circulating levels of serotonin and melatonin. The inclusion of a higher concentration of tryptophan in NiMera night milk is therefore likely to result in better sleep/wake cycles.
a-lactalbumin
a-lactalbumin is a protein that is rich in tryptophan. It is found in much higher concentrations in breast milk than in standard formula, where it is usually lacking. Studies in infants have shown that a-lactalbumin plays an important role in the sleep-wake cycle (Cubero, 2007; Cubero 2006). It was important to include a proportion of a-lactalbumin in NiMera night milk that most closely represents breast milk to help promote a better night’s sleep. This makes it a helpful option for parents who are looking for that bit of extra help with ensuring good nutrition for children and optimising sleep.
The quantities of a-lactalbumin and tryptophan in NiMera toddler milk are in line with research which has shown improved sleep/wake cycles. As can be seen, a-lactalbumin and tryptophan are components of breast milk which vary pending time of day or night, to promote a better sleep/wake cycle. Why is this important? If choosing to use toddler milk, opting for a formulation that most closely replicates breast-milk is important to optimise your child’s sleep/wake cycle – because don’t we all know we can take any extra help when it comes to the sleep department and little kids!
This post was sponsored by NiMera
From time to time I write sponsored posts such as this. However views are entirely my own, and I only ever collaborate with companies and brands who resonate with me.