👶🏼 Carnivore Babies: Considering Infant Nutrition

Hey friends,

Since we're still in the postpartum phase with Noah and Caleb recently turned one, I've been thinking a lot about early childhood nutrition lately. That'll be the focus for this week's newsletter through some simple observations and some research to support.

My wife Ashlyn and I recently began a ketogenic diet again on August 4th to reset from being in survival mode. Not only has it yielded some great initial results for us, but since Noah is being breastfed, it seems to have caused some absolutely jolting results in him too:

Noah has clocked the following:

👶🏼 Birth weight: 6lbs 4oz

👶🏼 Pre-maternal ketosis weight: 8lbs 1oz

📈 10-days post maternal ketosis: 9lbs 4oz

👶🏼 Birth percentile: 3% (SO tiny)

📈 10-days post maternal ketosis: 38%

To sum that up, Noah gained 19 ounces in ten days once his mom started consuming more dietary fat and cholesterol. He also shot up from 3rd percentile to 38th!

Why is this a big deal? If you didn’t know, Noah was born with Down’s Syndrome. Low muscle tone typically accompanies this condition and means difficulty eating and even breathing. Noah has QUICKLY overcome these issues in his two months of life.

This is more of an observational post because while there is much research around the optimal metabolic state for infants, there isn’t a ton of conclusive evidence.

Here is what we do know:

🍼 Babies are metabolically primed to enter ketosis during the shift from glucose reliance in utero to fat reliance after birth. Their glycogen stores run out quickly after birth and the mother’s colostrum promotes fat metabolism causing the infant to enter mild ketosis.

🍼 According to this 2016 study, “glucose supplies about 30% of the late term fetus’s brain energy requirements and about 50% of the newborn’s brain energy requirements; the difference is provided by ketones. Therefore, ketones are an obligate brain fuel during an infant’s development, as opposed to being an alternative brain fuel in the adult human, i.e. only needed when glucose is limiting.”

My take:

A diet high in fat and low in carbohydrates is extremely therapeutic to countless conditions in adults. Ashlyn and I have experienced the benefits of this in conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome for her, and significant weight loss and diminished joint pain for me.

While I can’t in good faith say such this diet is required for newborn health, it does seem congruent with newborn energy needs. Anecdotally, it seems to be working quite well too. 😆

Zooming out, Ashlyn and I are committed to raising our family differently by actively resisting the insulin-spiking dietary norms that drive metabolic dysfunction. So if "carnivore breastmilk" helps establish better metabolic health patterns for our kids from day one and nothing else, I’ll take that as a huge win. 🥩

–Ben