Drop in antibodies after 6 months?

"Kereru" wrote in message
...

"Cheryl S." wrote in message
...
This link was in my BabyCenter email for this week.

http://tinyurl.com/35y5w

I was very surprised to read this in it, under the section on
preventing
ear infections: "Practitioners such as Ruben believe that mothers
transfer certain immune-building antibodies to their babies
through
breast milk. However, those antibodies seem to decrease after the
six-month mark."

I was glad to see the plug for bf'ing but I have never heard of
the
antibodies in breastmilk decreasing after 6 months. I thought one
of
the prime reasons for extended bf'ing is the antibodies. Anyone
know
what they're talking about, or if it isn't true?
--
Cheryl S.
Mom to Julie, 3 (today!), and Jaden, 6 months
Quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.



This is totally just a theory but the antibodies in breastmilk are
antibodies that the mother produces to bugs she is exposed to.
Perhaps at
six months when baby starts to get solids, move around and be held
by more
people he begins to be exposed to bugs that Mum isn't. So he's
getting bugs
that Mum hasn't had a chance to make antibodies to. So it wouldn't
so much
be less anti-bodies but less appropriate anti-bodies. Obviously if
the baby
was in daycare earlier with my theory the same would apply earlier.
What do
you think?

Judy



Actually, breastmilk apparently only contains antibody class IgA,
which protects only against digestive and respritory tract infections.
It does not contain antibody class IgG which is antibodies against
bacteria and viruses (eg, common cold, strep throat). So with that
knowledge, it seems it doesn't matter except in cases of stomach bugs
and RSV. I was kind of upset to learn this to be honest, made me feel
like I'd been lied to, which technically, I had been.

Cadie and Aries

Cadie wrote:

But my goal is pediatrics...
maybe I can slowly change the way doctors practice... and be a ped
moms, especially breastfeeding moms, wanna come to. I want to change
the world.. LOL, yeah, right, what a dream, huh?

The profession needs people like you--I envy the moms who'll be taking their
babies to your practice.

Course she'll find it funny I'm asking about the Ig's now... when we
just finished the immune system and are now in respiratory. I thought
I understood it all, but apparently I was wrong.

I suspect she'll appreciate having a student who thinks about the material
enough to return with questions!

--
Belphoebe

Cadie wrote:

Actually, breastmilk apparently only contains antibody class IgA,
which protects only against digestive and respritory tract infections.
It does not contain antibody class IgG which is antibodies against
bacteria and viruses (eg, common cold, strep throat).

These are both respiratory tract infections. The respiratory tract
starts at your lips/nostrils.

Lara

"Cadie" wrote in message
news:vJM6c.46524$po.367985@attbi_s52...



Actually, breastmilk apparently only contains antibody class IgA,
which protects only against digestive and respritory tract infections.
It does not contain antibody class IgG which is antibodies against
bacteria and viruses (eg, common cold, strep throat). So with that
knowledge, it seems it doesn't matter except in cases of stomach bugs
and RSV. I was kind of upset to learn this to be honest, made me feel
like I'd been lied to, which technically, I had been.


Well, here is what I thought. Tell me if I have a clue. Most germs come in
across mucus membranes. (HIV, Hep B, these are blood borne, fluid borne,
they need a break in the mucus membranes to get in.)

Take a disease that comes across mucus membranes, the body will make IgA
against it at that point, and IgG against it once it breaches the mucus
membranes. The IgA really helps the body fight most diseases like that. It
tells the body what it needs to expect once something gets in, also.

This is one reason I don't want Meg to have injectible vaccines -- I want to
take advantage of the immune system working as intended, so her immune
system gets the head's up from its mucus membrane patrol. I need to find
the article again, but I was reading about the efficacy of injectible
vaccines if they are just deposited on the skin. It was pretty high. I'll
have to take that to my dr.



-- Dagny

Mind if I ask what you are studying? I am in my final year of a
public
health degree.

Judy



:-) Thanks! Dont' have class again until Tuesday, wonder if I'll
remember to ask her.

I'm a nursing student, technically. :-) I'd actually be in the
program if there were spaces open (damned govenor cut the budget so
there isn't enough money to hire professors), so right now I'm just
working with anatomy and psychology. But my goal is pediatrics...
maybe I can slowly change the way doctors practice... and be a ped
moms, especially breastfeeding moms, wanna come to. I want to change
the world.. LOL, yeah, right, what a dream, huh?

Excellent. Well you know the old saying "you can only change the world one
person at a time" :-)


Course she'll find it funny I'm asking about the Ig's now... when we
just finished the immune system and are now in respiratory. I thought
I understood it all, but apparently I was wrong.


She'll be pleased to hear that you are thinkning about this stuff beyond
your course.

About levels dropping when stressed, I guess I'm surprised I haven't
had a life threatening illness yet... I'm extremely stressed out. But
my immune system never seemed to work in the first place, so I guess
stress wouldnt' make a difference :-) Now one will wonder how I'd be
health wise if I'd only been breastfed.

Cadie and Aries


Well baby gets less antibodies from you while you are stressed to so I am
ordering you to stop stressing ;-) I hope Aries has got over the whole
scream in the night thing. FWIW it sounds like pain to me rather than night
terrors.

Judy

Larry McMahan writes:

The second is studies I have read which directly contradict this.
The basic result is that the concentration of immunoglobulins in
second year milk is much higher than first year milk. This says
that that the immune effects of breastmilk continue well into the
second year.

Anecdotally: my daughter is now 17 months old and has been going to
daycare since she was 14 weeks old. I still nurse my daughter in the
morning, at lunch, and off and on throughout the evening. From week 14 to
week 52, we supplemented with formula, and, from week 14 to about week 65,
we also supplemented with pumped breastmilk.

So far, my daughter's had about 3 short fevers and 1 bad cold that turned
into mild croup (i.e., baby laryngitis), but she's never had to have any
drug other other than vitamins and a few doses of baby Tylenol.

And my husband and I are people who come down with most of the colds that
we're exposed to, so it doesn't seem likely that we've passed on any kind
of super immune system to our daughter.

Conclusion: to me, it looks as if breastfeeding haas some kind of
beneficial effect on the immune system. And, if nothing else, it's a great
way to comfort a baby who does get sick.

"Kereru" writes:

people he begins to be exposed to bugs that Mum isn't. So he's getting bugs
that Mum hasn't had a chance to make antibodies to. So it wouldn't so much
be less anti-bodies but less appropriate anti-bodies. Obviously if the baby
was in daycare earlier with my theory the same would apply earlier. What do

I don't know if this is true, but I act on the assumption that I have to
go all out to build up daycare antibodies. I try to play with other babies
at daycare at lunchtime as well as my daughter so that I can build up
immunity to any bugs that happen to be floating around the daycare center.

So far, my daughter's been really healthy, so maybe that strategy has
worked.

"Cadie" writes:

Actually, breastmilk apparently only contains antibody class IgA,
which protects only against digestive and respritory tract infections.
It does not contain antibody class IgG which is antibodies against
bacteria and viruses (eg, common cold, strep throat). So with that

But is it possible that breastmilk contains other types of protective
factors?

Example: one selfish reason I keep breastfeeding my 17-month-old daughter
is that breastmilk seems to be a world-class cold remedy. I used to get
colds and end up coughing for weeks. Now, I dab some breastmilk under my
nostrils and on my lips, and my cough always goes away in a few days.

I've also noticed that squirting a little breastmilk into my daughter's
nostrils is really effective way to get mucus out. Water doesn't seem to
be nearly as effective.

In article ,
Nikki wrote:
"Cheryl S."

I was very surprised to read this in it, under the section on
preventing ear infections: "Practitioners such as Ruben believe
that mothers transfer certain immune-building antibodies to their
babies through breast milk. However, those antibodies seem to
decrease after the six-month mark."

Anecdotally - Hunter got his first ear infection right at 6 months. No
solids yet. Probably coincidence ;-)

Em wrote:

It said that if you
start solids after the 6 month mark, you don't have to start with
purees, but that babies are usually ready for more "biting" types of
activities like mushed up banana (or even banana chunks). That was
news to me. I thought purees were the gospel for first foods!

That was definitely true for Hunter (started at 10mos). Luke had the jarred
food at the sitter and finger food (cut/mashed/clumpy) at home (started at
6mos). Neither of mine gagged though and I think that is individual :-)

Grace would gag if I didn't get food fine enough, and she didn't start solids till
6 months. Pureed beets make a truly awsome mess when barfed up.

-Liz

In article NiG6c.41679$Cb.602613@attbi_s51, Em wrote:
"toypup" wrote in message
"Em" wrote in message
"Cheryl S." wrote in message
I was very surprised to read this in it, under the section on
preventing
ear infections: "Practitioners such as Ruben believe that mothers
transfer certain immune-building antibodies to their babies
through
breast milk. However, those antibodies seem to decrease after the
six-month mark."
snip

I just checked the Womanly Art again and it says, "when solid foods
replace human milk in a baby's diet, it decreases the protective
antibodies the baby receives." It states this as one of the reasons
to
wait to introduce solids after 6 months (one of the others is
allergies).

Well, if you're replacing human milk with solids, of course the baby
will
receive less protective antibodies. After all, the solids don't have
antibodies. It doesn't say that the milk itself has less antibodies.
I'm
eagerly watching this thread for the answer.

I know, that's why I said that I think that the person quoted is basing
his info on a misinterpretation of what actually happens! That's my
theory, but I could be totally off-base. The quote in the OP's post
doesn't say whether they tested the milk itself, or whether it is just
that babies start having less antibodies at the 6 months mark. Call me
skeptical, but I just suspect that the quote is not based on fact!

Or the author is confusing something else. Aren't babies born with a store
of antibodies transferred via the placenta that start to wear off around
then? Breast-fed babies get re-stocked but formula babies don't.

-Liz