Milk As Medicine

In the depths of a miserable Melbourne winter, surrounded by coughs and colds, I’m often asked by mothers if they should stop infant feeding if they are sick. So I thought now might be a good time to talk about how breastfeeding protects your baby from illness.

One of the most important ways that breastmilk constantly changes from one feed to the next is in the mix of anti-infective properties it contains in response to germs we encounter in the environment, providing antibodies to those specific pathogens to protect our babies.

Babies are born with immature immune systems and are therefore particularly vulnerable to infections. Breastmilk works in many different ways to protect our babies from illness with its many components working together, often enhancing the effects of one another. Antibodies are just one of these components.

Your body naturally makes antibodies in response to bacteria and viruses that you come into contact with as part of your own immune response. When you are infant feeding, these antibodies are secreted into your breastmilk, using your own immune response to the germs you and your baby are exposed to, to support your baby’s weaker immune system. In fact, the levels of antibodies found in breastmilk can reach up to 10-100 times of that found in the mother’s own bloodstream.

This is one of the reasons why breastfed babies have lower rates of gastroenteritis and diarrhea disease, ear infections, and respiratory illnesses such as bronchiolitis.

So if you get sick while you’re breastfeeding there is no need to stop.   In fact, continuing to provide your milk to your baby becomes even more important. Breastfeeding may prevent your baby from developing the illness altogether.  If they do catch it, breastfeeding will help your baby fight the sickness more effectively and recover more quickly.