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Breastfeeding is the most natural way to feed your infant, and it's free to boot. No infant formula can compare with the unique, perfect nutritional blend of human breast milk. Breast milk provides essentially all the protein, sugar, and fat that your baby requires to grow and be healthy. The added benefit of breast milk is its immune system boosting substances – including antibodies, white blood cells, immune factors, and enzymes.
Formula provides your baby with basic nutrition, and while there are many healthy babies who thrive on commercial formula, formula does not provide the added level of immune protection that breast milk has.
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Breastfed babies get a boost to their immune system by receiving antibodies, white blood cells, immune factors, and enzymes from you. | | |
These immunoglobins produced in the mother's body in response to the bacteria and germs that live in her environment. When your baby drinks breast milk, he or she is more protected from the germs that exist in his or her unique surroundings.
These immunoglobulins are highest in colostrum, but they also exist in mature breast milk. Experts believe these antibodies increase a baby's resistance to infection. These specialized antibodies cannot be replicated in man-made formula, because they are created for that unique baby and their needs.
Babies get the most immune boosting effect when they are breastfed exclusively for at least six months. Bottle-fed babies have few ways of battling pathogens (viruses and bacteria) until their bodies start producing secretory immunoglobin A on their own, which does not occur for several weeks or months after birth. Breast milk also contains a specific type of protein, called CD14, which helps develop B cells – a type of immune cells that produce antibodies.
Human milk also contains several helpful molecules that prevent pathogens from attaching to the mucous surfaces in your baby's body:- Oligosaccharides, which are a chain of sugars that are found in breast milk, can intercept bacteria and prevent them from entering the cells lining your baby's intestinal tract.
- Lactoferrin, an iron-binding protein found in breast milk, can make iron unavailable for bacteria that require iron to live. This prevents the growth of organisms that can cause serious illness in babies, such as a staph infection. Lactoferrin also stops how bacteria digest carbohydrates, which can prevent their growth.
- Breast milk also contains a B12 binding protein, which keeps vitamin B12 away from harmful microorganisms.
- The bifidus factor in breast milk helps promote the growth of lactobacillus bifidus – a friendly bacteria in the gut that protects your infant from harmful bacteria.
Immune cells, such as white blood cells (leukocytes) are also abundantly available in human breast milk. Leukocytes fight against infection and promote other defense mechanisms. These white blood cells are plentiful in colostrum, or early breast milk. Breast milk also contains lymphocytes and macrophages, which produce antibodies and other immune factors.
A growing number of studies have indicated that human breast milk can help your baby's immune system mature more quickly than if he or she were fed from man-made formula. For instance, research has found that breastfed infants produce higher levels of antibodies after immunizations. For reasons not well understood, human breast milk promotes a baby's own production of secretory immunoglobin A, lactoferrin, and lysozyme. Compared to bottle-fed infants, breast fed babies have higher amounts of these beneficial molecules in their urine.
Consequently, formula cannot match all of the immune-boosting ingredients in breast milk. Formula companies continue to research and attempt to match breast milk, but it will never be a comparable substitute.
The immune protection of breast milk protects babies from serious gastrointestinal infections, ear infections, and respiratory infections. These common illnesses occur more often in bottle-fed babies, and when breastfed babies do get sick, their illness is less severe and is shorter in duration. Mounting evidence has also found that urinary tract infections, lower respiratory infections, ear infections, bacterial meningitis, and diarrhea are less severe and occur less frequently in breastfed babies.
Not to worry – if you can't breastfeed for whatever reason, formula is still a good alternative. Your baby will still be healthy and grow up perfectly fine. However, human milk is superior and should be chosen when it's possible.
In addition to breastfeeding, you can minimize the risk of your baby getting sick by good hygiene practices. Wash your hands before you handle your baby, and ask others around your child to wash their hands first. You should also keep anyone who is sick from getting too close to your baby.
Your baby will get sick – that's unavoidable, but you can do your part to ensure that he or she is as healthy as possible.
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Before your baby is born, you will be inundated with pearls of wisdom from friends and family. "Don't let strangers touch your baby. Make sure people wash their hands first. Keep your infant away from sick people." All this parenting advice can get under your skin, especially since all these tips are common sense. (Plus, you are probably highly emotional at the end of pregnancy and you're ready for people to leave you alone.) Common sense they may be, the purpose of this advice is to prevent your newborn baby from getting sick. The world is full of foreign organisms, bacteria, and viruses that a newborn baby has never encountered before. An adult has a mature immune system, which springs into action whenever their body must defend itself from bacteria and viruses. Your immune system produces antibodies – infection-fighting proteins – to help guard against sickness, and your white blood cells are able to attack the foreign organisms and destroy them.
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Breastfed babies have less admissions to the hospital for illnesses when compared to formula-fed babies. | |
A newborn arrives in the world with an immune system that's weak and immature. As a result, your baby is more vulnerable to common illnesses and infections. Nonetheless, your newborn baby isn't completely defenseless. During pregnancy, your body produces disease-fighting antibodies that crossed the placenta to your baby. These antibodies give newborn babies an extra layer of protection for a couple of months after birth. However, the older your baby is, the less benefit he or she will receive from these maternal antibodies. Babies cannot effectively produce their own antibodies until they are about six months old, and their immune systems will not be fully developed until they are roughly four or five years old. For this reason, pediatricians and healthcare providers recommend mothers exclusively breastfeed their babies for at least six months and longer, if possible. Breastfeeding is the only way for your baby to continue getting disease-fighting antibodies that will give his or her immature immune system a boost. The unique antibodies in breast milk are the reason that breastfed babies tend to have fewer illnesses than babies who are bottle-fed. Studies have indicated that more formula-fed babies are admitted to hospitals for illnesses, compared to babies fed on the breast. |
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