Dr. Chheda – Breast milk has lots of antibodies, maternal antibodies that are passed to the baby during nursing. But exactly which antibodies are present in breast milk?

It’s the antibodies that the mom is actively making at the moment. It’s not past antibodies. So if the mom had an infection or a vaccine years ago, those antibodies don’t go through the breast milk. It’s only the antibodies that the mom is making on that specific day that go through breast milk. So if mom has a cold, an infection, those antibodies are going through the breast milk and will help the child either fight off the infection faster or they don’t get it, which is good.

But they’re not gonna get past antibodies. So pure breastfeeding to try to get your vaccines into your baby? That’s not the way it works.