母乳如何保护新生儿 How Breast Milk Protects Newborns

With permission from Jack Newman to post in LLL-China

经过杰克纽曼医生的同意翻译和转发到国际母乳会网站

From Dr Jack Newman (HUGE lactation supporter and doctor):

来自杰克•纽曼医生

Coronavirus

冠状病毒

The photos below show how, when a mother is exposed to an infection, her body reacts to produce immune factors in her milk in order to protect the baby from getting sick. The whole article, written by me, is in Scientific American from 1995

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4v85fdtjv5u7o3j/Scientific American 1995%2C how bf protects.pdf?dl=0

下面的照片显示，当母亲受到感染时，她的身体如何在母乳中产生免疫因子，以保护婴儿不生病。我写的整篇文章发布在1995年的《科学美国人》https://www.dropbox.com/s/4v85fdtjv5u7o3j/Scientific American 1995%2C how bf protects.pdf?dl=0

There is a lot of concern about what to do about breastfeeding when either the baby or the mother has been exposed to coronavirus. The answer is to continue breastfeeding and keep the mother and baby together. Indeed, one can sense a panic about this virus which is new, and therefore few if any people in the world has been exposed to it. And many breastfeeding mothers have been told that they should not breastfeed if they have been exposed or actually have the infection.

Other than being “new”, there is nothing particularly special about this virus and the same principles apply as with other viruses. And mothers or babies who have been exposed to it should continue breastfeeding. Mothers and babies spend time TOGETHER. They are exposed to viruses and other pathogens TOGETHER. When either the mother or the baby is exposed to a virus, there is an incubation period before the onset of symptoms. In other words, the mother or baby are already infectious without knowing they are sick or feeling sick. And breastmilk with its dozens if not hundreds of immune factors (not just antibodies) are present to protect the baby.

It seems that the first reaction to any new virus is to separate mothers and babies and to tell them they can´t breastfeeding. The same happened a couple of years back with SARS, H1N1 and other viruses. But the safe course is to keep breastfeeding. The reaction “we don´t know, so the mother should not breastfeed, just to be safe” is not good practice.

So, THERE IS NO REASON TO SEPARATE THE MOTHER AND BABY. And no reason to stop breastfeeding. Indeed, there is lots of reasons for breastfeeding to continue.

Want to learn more about how breastfeeding protects babies against infection? See our eBook “Breastfeeding: Empowering Parents”. The eBook contains videos, links to scholarly articles and more: https://ibconline.ca/ebook/.

电子书包含视频、学术文章链接等：https://ibconline.ca/eBook/

Dr Jack Newman杰克•纽曼医生。