On Friday 23rd of June we presented some of our lab’s results at the Dutch Neuroscience Meeting. Two PhD students from the lab, Yvonne Willemsen and Nina Bruinhof, both participated in a symposium called: “Mother’s milk: a crucial start for healthy neurodevelopment?”. This symposium was organized and chaired by Yvonne, together with associate professor Aniko Korosi at the University of Amsterdam.
Currently, very little is known about how daily cortisol in the milk of the mother is linked to daily fluctuations in infant behavior. Therefore, Nina investigated this topic with data from the SMILEY study. She presented preliminary results on moment-to-moment associations between breast milk cortisol and infant crying and sleep.
Yvonne presented her published paper on human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) during the first 12 postnatal weeks and associations with executive functions in toddlers. Data from the BINGO study was used for this research. Specifically, this study found that higher levels of fucosylated HMOs predicted better executive functions in toddlers.
We enjoyed sharing our lab’s results on breast milk and discussing these with other early life researchers.
DPB LAB 