According to the Iowa Extension Service, every teaspoon of breastmilk has 3,000,000 germ killing cells in it; so if a baby gets even one teaspoon a day, it is very valuable! (see articles below)
Mother’s milk is truly an incredible provision that God designed. I am amazed at its wonders–as they are too numerous to count. Breastmilk is the ultimate immunization as well as ultimate nutrition.
We have been dealing with the dreaded chicken pox around here for almost a week. It isn’t slowing down yet, but I have watched each of my children deal with this childhood sickness with much interest. My oldest is trying to take it like a man. My daughter was horrified when she found out that her spots were going to turn in to scabs. My son, who has a hard time sitting still and is always on the go…is finding no self control when it comes to scratching. My 3 year old doesn’t know what “stop scratching” means and freaks out when calamine lotion touches his skin. My 5 year old, who either had a very light case or has bug bites and hasn’t broken out with it yet, keeps saying that he wants more spots. I found him in the bathroom with a q-tip and the pink calamine lotion putting dots on his belly.
My daughter was one of the first ones to come down with it. With a couple of fussy days and a low grade fever, she was by far the easiest one to deal with. She nursed more often and for longer periods of time. My body evidently picked up on the clues that she wasn’t feeling well and in turn made a large supply of milk for her. I became more hungry and tired as well. In all of this, I marvel at the amazing design our Creator developed: the mother child nursing relationship is incredible.
Getting back to the ultimate immunization: it isn’t uncommon for a newborn to completely be protected against illnesses like the chicken pox. However, this was not the case with us. Even though she is only 9 weeks old, my daughter did get the chicken pox. The amazing thing is that she developed a mild case with minimal spots. The majority of her spots were in her hair and neck, with several on her face, a couple on her midsection and a couple on her back. The more amazing thing is her spots healed up amazingly fast! Most of her spots are completely gone with no sign that they were ever there in the first place.
I know that the breastmilk acted like pure liquid healing for her and am thankful for this amazing natural medicine for our babies.
Interesting articles on the breastfeeding and immunity: