Breast feeding and the flu

[The[cookie]Doctor]

I find this all really interesting and should be studying it more in depth next semester and can't wait.

In terms of maternal protection: there are five groups of immunoglobulins.
Infants are protected for the first 6-9 months with only the very tiny maternal antibodies that were able to pass the placenta, this only covers one of the group of immunoglobulins - IgG. This is for specific immunity - might be from your vax status or from various infections you have had. Breastfeeding protection is offered from all groups but mostly in abundance by IgA group which is specific to the gastrointestinal tract - vomiting, diarrhea, etc...

To my knowledge the real 'immunity use' of breastmilk is its high levels of white blood cells which are literally disease eaters, so in the case a child does become sick it normally recovers quite quickly. From memory, research has also found that babies salivary contact (and therefore it's content) with the breast is what stimulates antibody production for the infant, so it is not really maternal specific, but rather by the mechanism of breastfeeding, enabling YOUR body to create the antibodies that will work for baby.

Pretty cool, but yep, keep feeding. And get better soon x