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I had this idea this morning - instead of vaccinating tiny babies or even toddlers, would it work if Mum was to get the vaccinations on the child's schedule, and then pass the antibodies through to bub, assuming bub is fully breastfed?
I don't know if that's a stupid question or not :redface: In my mind, that would be an almost perfect solution: bub still gets the antibodies, but Mum filters out the chemicals and binders etc.
As far as I am aware, only natural immunity (ie from illness) will pass onto a bub through breastmilk. Not sure why I think this though, would be great if someone had some references for this one as it is an interesting question.
It sounds good, but it would only offer protection while the baby was breastfeeding, because of the way the body creates antibodies. Vaccines are designed to stimulate the babies own immune system so it can survive illness when weaned and once the placental protection recedes (around eight months).
Further, breast milk antibodies are predominantly igA antibodies and do not offer protection for many deadly illnesses, such as whooping cough, which needs igG antibodies.
Hope that makes sense.
What Arcadia said.
So, if I was exclusively breastfeeding and got the whooping cough vaccine, it wouldn't pass through to my baby?
No it wouldn't pass through, because whooping cough is a bacterial infection and is fought with igG antibodies, which are not transmitted through breast milk.
Breast milk is good protecting against some pathogens, mainly those who are fought using igA antibodies.
The biggest fear I have about the anti vax movement, is that for every girl who isn't vaccinated now, and doesn't get the disease to develop immunity, means the are putting their own babies at risk in the future, because they won't be able to pass on any immunity through their placenta or breast milk when they do have their babies.
Ds is unvaccinated. But our pead told us that if i Got the whooping cough vax it WOULD go through the breast milk offering some protection. I did not get the vax though.