Among the many things that mamas worry about when it comes to their babies, their development happens to be one of the more important things they focus on. Of course, development can mean several things. Usually, this could either mean the baby’s physical or mental development. Whatever the case, this is something that mamas give emphasis on when caring for their child.
A mama will do everything it takes for their child to develop to their full potential. From feeding them the right food and getting the right vitamins and minerals to giving them educational toys and books, there’s a lot of things that a mama does. However, these aren’t the only things that can help with development.
What a lot of mamas don’t know is that their baby’s development, especially in the first few years of their lives, can also be positively affected by one other factor. What’s more, this factor is something that may be unexpected to many, and invisible to the human eye! One other thing that can affect their development is bacteria!
Bacteria?!?
When people usually hear the word “bacteria,” what usually comes to mind would be the kind that you find on dirty surfaces or make you sick. This isn’t wrong, but it isn’t the entire truth. While there are bad bacteria, there also are good bacteria. What’s more, a number of good bacteria can be found in our bodies.
Among the many different places in our bodies where we can find bacteria, one of the most common places we can find it would be in our gut. You might have heard the term “gut microbiome” somewhere, and this is exactly what we’re talking about. Your gut microbiome is filled with different kinds of bacteria that serve varying functions in our body. Some of these are essential to helping us live a normal and healthy life.
However, what many people don’t know is that these bacteria can also aid in our development, especially when we’re babies! What’s more, these gut bacteria can aid in different aspects of our development too!
How The Bacteria in Our Gut Microbiome Help
The bacteria in our guts play a very significant role in our daily lives as human beings. Aside from helping us break down foods and digest them, they also serve many different purposes that are involved with our development. This is especially true when we are babies and are still yet to grow. So, giving extra focus to the gut microbiome is important as doing so will also ensure you develop properly.
With that in mind, just how does the bacteria in our guts help in development? More specifically, how does it help with a baby’s development? Well, we can give you two main ways it helps.
Develop The Brain
One of the most significant ways that your gut microbiota aids in development would be by helping the brain grow. During the newborn period, a baby’s brain grows almost double its size. This is a normal and expected process for all babies. Where does the gut bacteria get involved in all of this?
The bacteria in your baby’s gut can help aid in providing the raw materials necessary for doing things like promoting the development of neurons or production of neurotransmitters necessary to spark new neural pathways. By providing the raw materials needed, by way of breaking down foods and making the metabolites available for the brain to utilize, the bacteria ensure that your baby maximizes this period of rapid brain growth. By having what’s needed and stimulating the brain, it increases the potential for their brain to develop and mature.
Develop and Strengthen the Immune System
Another way that your baby’s gut bacteria are useful would be through their role in helping their immune system develop. What’s more, this happens at the same time that the bacteria grow and establish their little microbiome.
As mentioned earlier, the bacteria in your gut help in breaking down foods. What’s more, they also help break down bad bacteria and other pathogens that could potentially cause disease. However, they also help your immune system to develop. By doing things such as breaking down those bad bacteria, your gut microbiome helps your immune system grow by giving them the raw material to stimulate and strengthen the immune system. A perfect example of this is when your gut bacteria bind to the receptors in your gut, showing your immune system the components of what pathogens need to be destroyed when they are present in your body.
Your gut microbiome does a lot of work to help you develop as much as you can. From giving your body the raw materials it needs to help your brain grow or strengthen your immune system. So, it makes perfect sense that you also focus on this aspect of your child’s health. By doing so, you cover all bases when it comes to their development and are assured that you did whatever you could to maximize it. After all, since mamas do whatever they can for their babies, it’s good to ensure that they do everything they can too!
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