How to Help Support Your Baby’s Immune System

Some vitamins are essential to support your baby’s immune system, such as vitamin A, which is required by our white blood cells in their response to bacteria. The NHS recommends:

• If you’re breastfeeding your baby under 6 months old, you should give your baby a daily supplement of vitamin D.
• If you’re breastfeeding your baby over 6 months old, you should give your baby daily supplements of vitamins A, C and D.
• If your baby is formula fed, and they have more than 500ml of formula milk a day, you do not need to give supplements to your baby as formula milk is already fortified with vitamins³.

The NHS recommends you start introducing your baby to their first foods at around six months of age⁴. The type of first foods that you introduce to your baby when they are ready, may have a role in preventing food allergies. For example, research has shown that babies at high risk of peanut allergy who were provided with snacks containing peanuts in early life were less likely to develop peanut allergy⁵.

If you are worried your baby may have an allergy, please speak to a Healthcare Professional. You can read more on nutrition and baby immune systems here.

You can also support your baby’s immune system by having the pregnancy vaccinations and immunisations recommended by the NHS – this includes the seasonal influenza vaccination, and a whooping cough vaccination. These pregnancy vaccinations help to protect both you and your baby as the antibodies made by your immune system will also pass across the placenta and through your breast milk to your baby.

Once your baby has arrived, make sure they have the NHS recommended childhood vaccinations to protect them against serious childhood illnesses⁶.

In adults, we know that sleep (or lack of it!) can affect your health, including your immune function⁷. You can find out more on how to establish a good baby sleep routine here.

There are other factors before and during birth which can affect your baby’s immune system.

A small percentage of children in developed countries have food allergies (3-6%), and around 1 in 6 children have eczema in the UK⁸.

Babies born by caesarean section are more likely to develop food allergies and asthma than those born by vaginal delivery⁹. This may be due to a lower level of exposure to maternal gut bacteria during the birth, leading to changes in how a baby’s immune system matures. 

However, only a very small number of food allergy cases can be connected to the birthing method alone. There are lots of factors which have been linked to a reduced risk of allergy in children, including genetics, pet ownership, and having an older sibling^1.