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Home › Articles › Breast is Best › Breastfeeding and Allergies

Breastfeeding and Allergies

Protection Now and for the Future

By P. Christine Smith

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Rebecca Escalante of San Diego, Calif. is the mother of three boys, ages 5, 7 and 9. She fed the two older boys formula, but breastfed the youngest. "My oldest boy suffers from allergies all the time, to the point where he gets frequent double-ear infections and is becoming immune to antibiotics," Escalante says. "My middle boy has some allergies, but my youngest, the one I breastfed, has no allergies whatsoever. I firmly believe that my youngest, Nick, is so healthy because he was a breastfed baby." She breastfed Nick for more than eleven months.

According to Russell, receiving the lifelong benefit of reduced occurrence of allergies in relation to breastfeeding stems from the development of the immune system. Babies who are fed breast milk solely for the first six months of life are only exposed to what the mother eats and secretes into her milk, lessening the absorption of these foods. The introduction of other foods prior to the full development of the baby's immune system may set him up for a lifetime of sensitivities to certain foods.

Having the added boost of Mom's immune capabilities lessens or eliminates the predisposition of allergic reactions to other substances as well, including pollen, dusts and molds. "I see it all the time," says Russell, of children who suffer from environmentally-related allergies who had been formula-fed as infants.

The connection is simple. "To think that we could create in a laboratory a formula that would be better for human infants than mother's milk is ludicrous and fool-hardy," Russell says. "Mother's milk is the perfect food for human infants." Russell adds that mother's milk actually alters its properties as the baby gets older, always providing what the baby needs in the way of nutrients and levels of protection through the mother's antibodies. "Mother's milk is a living substance," says Russell.


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