Kissing Baby To Train Immunity

One reason for a mother's impulse to kiss her newborn baby is that she ingests the bacteria and viruses on the baby's skin when she does it, which exposes her own immune system to those germs. Her immune cells then respond to this exposure by creating specific antibodies against those microbes. These antibodies move into her breast milk as her body produces it. When the baby nurses, the milk delivers those targeted antibodies back to the baby, which helps protect the baby from imminent infection.

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