Mother's milk and antibodies Posted: 05-20-08 08:58am
We have been working on weaning my 1 1/2
year old son from nursing. It is going
well, except he has been sick three times
in the last six weeks. Before this, he
never had a flu or infection of any kind.
I know it could be due to a number of
things, but is it possible that weaning
can cause fever and lower his immunity to
flus, colds, etc.?
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DoctorAnswer
Doctor Answer
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Toddlers Answer A4157 Posted: 05-21-08 20:38pm
Mother’s milk contains antibodies and
inflammatory cells that protect the baby
from upper respiratory infections. But
that is passive immunity that lasts as
long as the baby breast feeds and receives
antibodies from its mother. You can’t
breast feed your baby forever so at one
moment the baby’s immune system should
struggle with the infections on its own. I
believe that your baby doesn’t have low
immunity but its immunity is not developed
enough yet to struggle with the common
infections from its environment.
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