Summary: How Breast Milk Protects Newborns Doctors have long recognized that breastfed infants contracted far fewer infections than infants who were given formula. The reason is that mother’s milk helps infants to fight against foreign organisms during the first few months of life when an infant doesn’t have an effective immune system. Not only do breastfed infants have antibodies passed to them during pregnancy to help breakdown bacteria, and viruses, they also gain …showed first 75 words of 337 total…

…showed last 75 words of 337 total…helps promotes growth of beneficial organism named Lactobacillus bifidus. Immune cells are also abundant in human milk. They consist of white blood cells that fight infection themselves and activate other defense mechanisms. The second most common milk leukocyte is the macrophage. The macrophages in breast milk manufacture lysozyme. Lysozyme is an enzyme that destroys bacteria by disrupting their cell walls. Breast milk is truly a fascinating fluid that supplies infants with far more than nutrition.