- Written by NBCI
Breastfeeding protects babies against infectious illnesses. Breastmilk provides many immune factors to the baby. Although everyone talks about antibodies, antibodies are only one group of immune factors, of which there are dozens in breastmilk. These immune factors interact in many ways to protect the baby. One important way is that breastfeeding provides the baby with “mucosal immunity”. That is, breastmilk provides antibodies, mucins, lactoferrin, lysozyme, oligosaccharides and many other immune factors that line the gut and upper respiratory surface and prevent microbes (viruses, bacteria, fungi etc) from entering the baby’s body and making him sick1 2. In other words, breastfeeding, in effect, is isolation of the baby without isolating the baby.
