Breastfeeding helps your baby develop its own immune system by replicating yours

Wednesday, October 05, 2016 by: Vicki Batts
Tags: breastfeeding, immunity, natural defenses

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(NaturalNews) Scientists have understood the concept of "passive immunity" for quite some time. In this process, mother's milk helps provide infants with immunity to a number of different diseases through the transference of antibodies. But now, a new discovery has been made.

Researchers from the University of California at Riverside have found that in addition to providing passive immunity, breast milk also contributes to the development of a baby's own independent immune system. They've dubbed this phenomenon "maternal educational immunity." What they found was that specific maternal immune cells are able to pass through the baby's intestinal barrier and into an immune organ known as the thymus. From there, the mother's immune cells are able to teach the baby's still-developing cells how to respond to the same infectious agents that the mother has already been exposed to. In other words, babies' immune cells "copy" what their mothers' immune cells do.

Unfortunately, this new information may be used to promote vaccination of pregnant woman. Medical Xpress notes that their discovery has "important implications for vaccinating newborn babies" and that the researchers feel that this suggests vaccinating the mother will also allow doctors to vaccinate the baby at the same time. Of course, all of their initial testing on immunity involved mice; there is no telling what kind of harmful effects such vaccinations may have on human children.

Lead researcher and professor of biomedical sciences at the UC Riverside School of Medicine, Ameae Walker noted, "Some vaccines are not safe to give a newborn baby and others just don't work very well in newborns." One would think that if a vaccine is not safe to give to a newborn, it might not be such a good idea to give it to a pregnant or breastfeeding woman either, but apparently vaccine pushers are throwing caution to the wind. Who cares about birth defects, right?

What is most confounding about this study is the fact that the researchers were analyzing the effects of giving the tuberculosis vaccine to pregnant mothers. You see, the tuberculosis vaccine is known for not being particularly effective in newborns. While it does prevent some symptoms, it doesn't seem to prevent the respiratory aspect of the illness. Walker commented, "We hope that by vaccinating the mother, who will eventually nurse the baby, we will improve infant immunity against TB." She also said, "It's like vaccinating the baby without actually vaccinating the baby. In some instances, our work has shown that immunity against TB is far more effective if acquired through the milk than if acquired through direct vaccination of the baby. Of course, clinical trials will need to be conducted to test whether this is the case in humans."

One key thing that these "researchers" seem to have failed to notice is that the tuberculosis vaccine, known as the BCG vaccine, is not safe to give to pregnant women. From the CDC itself: "BCG vaccination should not be given during pregnancy." According to the CDC, there has been no research as to whether or not this vaccine is safe to give during pregnancy. There has not been any research in regards to breastfeeding women, either. Being a test subject for transferred immunity is one thing; putting your baby's health at risk so some hacks can see what happens is something else entirely.

Sources:

MedicalXpress.com

CDC.gov

Science.NaturalNews.com