Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen the musings on the “Big Baby Trial” (which we talked about in last week’s newsletter), and now, we’ve had women in the clinic being told:
👉 “Your baby is big.”
👉 “Your baby isn’t gaining weight fast enough.”
Seriously? These poor babies.
Too big before birth. Not big enough after.
How are they meant to meet these expectations? (they're not, we live in a society that sets us all up for failure)
(And by we, I mean society, that ever-changing, never-satisfied voice that seems to want babies to be everything at once. Be chunky! But don’t be too chunky. Be thriving! But don't breastfeed “too often.” Be settled! But not “too attached.”....oi!
So let's talk baby fat. Brown fat.
Honestly, is there anything cuter then a squishy roly-poly baby. Talk about oxytocin overdrive.
Brown fat, it's this wonderful, well fat that our babies make whilst growing in pregnancy. It's protective, it's powerful and it has a purpose....hence why we want it!
So...what is brown fat?
It’s a special kind of fat that babies are born with. Brown fat’s whole job is to protect your baby when they first come earthside.
Brown fat is packed with mitochondria (which is basically little heat engines), and it helps your baby regulate their body temp without shivering. Because babies actually can’t shiver like us adults. So brown fat is their personal internal heater. Baby will tap into their brown fat whilst they navigate earth side helping them stay warm from the inside out while they figure out this whole breathing-air, living-earthside thing.
So a statement I say often is mother nature did not F us up. Like every fine detail has a purpose. Including brown fat. Your baby is born with stores of brown fat strategically placed in all the right spots: around their neck, chest, between shoulder blades, spine, and kidneys.
Why does your baby have brown fat?
Because being born is hard work. For your baby, birth means leaving their warm, constant temperature womb and being thrust into a world that’s on average 10°C colder. Your baby's small body isn't ready to handle all the changes on their own. Your baby is not a mini adult, it can't shiver yet and their muscles are immature. It needs brown fat.
Newborn babies are also vulnerable to a low body temperature (hypothermia) because their bodies have a high surface area relative to their weight, which can lead to rapid heat loss.
Brown fat their built-in heater generates heat from the inside using thermogenesis. A medical term to describe a baby using their brown fat to burn through fatty acids and glucose, and literally warm them from the inside out.
Basically, brown fat keeps your baby warm, and you need to think of your baby's brown fat like a tank of fuel but they can’t refill this tank. Once it’s gone, it’s gone and then your baby has to start using muscle and energy reserves meant for their growth and development to keep themselves warm.
Cue baby weight loss.
So all babies (actually not all but the far majority) lose weight after birth. The reason they do is because they now need to regulate their temperature, heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, blood sugar, plus feed, plus crying, plus birth, plus they have so much more room now to wave those arms and legs. ALL OF THIS REQUIRES ENERGY!
So lets say a baby uses all their brown fat, then they use their energy sources for all the above, this baby will most likely lose a significant amount of weight from what they weighed at birth. What is considered normal is 10% of birth weight. So, say a baby is 3500g (3.5kg) at birth, that baby can lose 350g which is 10% of their birth weight.
Therefore we want to protect your baby's brown fat storage.
1: so they stay warm,
2: so they don't tap into their muscle and energy reserve and
3: so they don't lose the 10% or more weight after birth....(because hello crazy feeding plans, formula and potentially jaundice)
How do we protect brown fat?
✨ Immediate skin-to-skin after birth (naked baby, naked chest) and don't stop for the next few days...yes not 24/7 but the majority of your first few days postpartum, you and your baby need to be skin-to-skin. Skin-to-skin can be shared with baby's other parent and it's beneficial for all!
Side Note: Remember all those things mentioned before on why babies lose weight after birth because they have to regulate it all - breathing, temp, heart rate etc. Well when your baby is skin-to-skin your body does all that hard work for them. And it is hard. They are immature little beings and their brain has to navigate/regulate a LOT when they're born. When baby is skin-to-skin (and actual skin-to-skin) with an adult, the adult body does all the hard work for them, and then baby can chill, can reserve their brown fat and just focus on growing and developing and learning to breastfeed. Back to how do we protect brown fat 👇
✨ Warm environments during and after birth (warmest place is skin-to-skin)
✨ Delayed weighing and minimal unnecessary handling
✨ Delayed bathing (like 5-7 days. Waiting this long is also beneficial to breastfeeding and baby's gut health)
✨ Breastfeeding early and often, it helps stabilise sugar and temp + super important for immunity and gut health
Seriously, we over complicate things in our society. The goal post birth is to protect your baby's brown fat and when we do that everything falls into place. Because as I said mother nature didn't F us up.
You don't need anything fancy, you don't need to buy anything. You literally just need you and your baby, skin-to-skin, held, open access to your breasts so baby can lick, sniff, suckle, and feed.
What happens when we promote brown fat and hold our babies skin-to-skin
Skin-to-skin for days with open access to your breasts
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Lots of brown fat preserved
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lots of muscle and energy ready for when baby wants to grow and develop
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Lots of colostrum
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Lots of immunity and good gut health
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Solid foundation at establishing breastfeeding
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minimal weight loss
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oozing oxytocin for mum & bonding
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minimal bleeding
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lots of resting
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pressure off your pelvic floor
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active alert baby
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lots of milk
Maybe mother nature actually just wants us to hold our babies 🤷🏼♀️
We’re so glad you’re here.
Thanks for being part of this space. More to come.
The Womanhood Space Team ♡