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Home › Articles › Toddler Health › Baby's Immune System

Baby's Immune System

5 Ways to Give Baby's and Toddler's Immune System a Boost

By Donna Smith

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5. Stop Smoking

Smoking affects not only the user's health, but the health of everyone around him or her – especially babies and toddlers.

"Secondhand smoke has bad effects on the immune systems of infants, especially the immune system in the lungs," Dr. Cole says. "Secondhand smoke contains substances that interfere with normal immune development in the lungs. For example, children exposed to secondhand smoke have more serious lung infections and are more likely to develop asthma. Secondhand smoke also reduces the amount of vitamin C in a child's system, and this deficit may also contribute to immune problems."

Dr. Renna agrees. "Secondhand smoke destroys the lining of the respiratory tract," she says. "This lining is one of the first defenses when we breathe in germs, and if the system is compromised it can't protect us as well."

Have you been smoking around your child? It's never too late to stop. "Once the exposure to smoke has ceased the cells and the hair-like projections called cilia (these cilia push debris and germs that we breathe in out of the respiratory tract) grow back and start to protect again," Dr. Renna says.

"Stopping smoking is one of the best things a parent can do for her/his baby – quitting smoking not only improves a baby's immune system but also ensures that the baby will have a healthy parent," Dr. Cole says.

A Head Start for Baby's Immune System

You keep your baby healthy with regular checkups and vaccinations. But there are other ways you can give your baby's immune system a head start, says Dr. Carl Charnetski, professor of psychology at Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and author of Feeling Good Is Good for You: How Pleasure Can Boost Your Immune System and Lengthen Your Life (Rodale, 2003).

Dr. Charnetski, along with Dr. Francis Brennan, the associate director of the Neurbehavioral Research Laboratory at the Department of Veteran Affairs Medical Center in New Jersey, studies the affect of simple pleasures on immunoglobin A (IgA), the antibody that acts as the body's barrier against disease.

"Nothing beats early intervention," Dr. Charnetski says. So he's developed a downsized version of their Immunity-Pleasure Connection for Baby. He offers these tips:

  • Play Music: "Do this prenatally and neonatally and continue to postnatally into childhood," he says. "Studies have shown that babies in utero respond to this. The music affects their heart rate and oxygen saturation."
  • Make Baby Laugh: "It's good for you; it's good for Baby," he says.
  • Color Your Child's World: "Please your child's visual sense with color," he says. "Pastels are calming and peaceful, which is great for the immune system. But primary colors stimulate pleasure, which is also great for immunity. The solution is to have long periods of peace and relaxation, interspersed frequently with pleasure. So paint the nursery walls a pale pastel color and entertain Baby with bright toys."


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