How Breastfeeding Can Help If Baby Gets Sick

Breastmilk provides just the right proportion of essential nutrients, vitamins, proteins, fats and antibodies to help your baby’s body and brain develop. Because breastmilk is the perfect food, breastfed babies get a wealth of health benefits. Breastfed babies…

• Get sick less and have a lower risk of allergies.
• Have a lower risk of obesity.
• Have a lower chance of developing childhood asthma.
• Have a permanently reduced risk of diabetes.
• Have a lower incidence of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome).
• Have a reduced risk for ear infections (otitis media).
• Have a reduced risk of tummy infections (gastroenteritis).
• Get nutrients that help strengthen and develop their immature immune system in a way no other substance can.
• Respond better to immunizations against Polio, Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Haemophilus influenza (bacterium that can cause a severe infection).
• Have optimal oral development because of their jaw movements and nutrients in breastmilk and therefore decrease the risk of tooth decay.
• Are less likely to be hospitalized with pneumonia or bronchiolitis, and have less chance of lower respiratory tract infections (chest infections).

What’s really amazing is that breastmilk can also adapt its composition to meet your baby’s needs as they get older or become sick. Your breastmilk contains white blood cells that protect your baby from every infection that YOU have ever had! It also contains immunoglobulins (these are like natural antibiotics) and can protect against parasites too! If your baby picks up an infection, some of the germs in his/her saliva are able to pass through the thin skin of your nipple (whilst feeding) and enter your bloodstream. In response, your immune system produces millions of white blood cells which are then passed back to your baby in the breastmilk – a ready-made medicine, with the exact composition to fight off your baby’s infection! Just as importantly, your baby thrives emotionally because skin-to-skin contact with mum creates a strong bond and sense of security. So many health reasons to breastfeed your baby!