During breast feeding,
the child pulls 11 grams of EFAs
from the mother daily through
breast milk.
EFAs are required for
brain development and brain function. During
pregnancy, the child draws EFAs from the mother's body to build
its brain, which is over 60% fat and very rich in both omega-3 and omega-6
EFA derivatives. The placenta contains receptors that ensure that
omega-3 and omega-6 EFAs are transported from the mother to the baby. No
such receptors are found for the non-essential monounsaturated and
saturated fatty acids.

During pregnancy, the child depletes women
of EFAs. Each child
gets less EFAs than the previous child, and each subsequent child
depletes the mother further unless the mother augments her diet
with essential fatty acids.
Depletion of the mother's EFA stores explains
why younger children have far more developmental and behavioral
problems than older children,
especially in large families in which the children are born close
together.
Depletion of EFAs during pregnancy also
provides a rationale for why women experience far more depression,
fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue, and more inflammatory, autoimmune, and collagen diseases
than men. Women suffer these problems from 2 to 15 times more frequently
than men do. The depletion of EFAs during child bearing predisposes
women to these conditions. Men are not depleted by baby brain building
in the way that women are.