I read something fascinating this morning. Lauren Sompayrac, author of
How The Immune System Works, says that, when a
mother kisses her baby, she picks up
a
sample of that special baby-grubbiness soup that is on the baby's skin--that special mix of everything the baby's been in contact with since her last bath. Then, Mom's immune system
analyzes for pathogens her sample of whatever Baby has been rolling or crawling around in, and the next day Mom produces breast milk
specially tailored to kill whatever little nastiness was brewing up on Baby's face.
Babies crawl around in filthy
environments (even the ones that look clean to us aren't all that pristine!), pick up anything that catches their attention, and put everything they meet into their mouths. Even the most helicopter-ish of parents can't be watching EVERY moment. And babies' immune systems are not fully developed, so this pattern of casual access to potentially harmful bacteria has found a good match in a breastfeeding Mom who kisses her baby's face regularly.
What really fascinates me about this little miracle of Nature's artful design and maintenance of us little short-lived organisms called humans is the great 7 Childhood Treasures metaphor it suggests. For there is another way that the love embodied by a kiss can kill something else that can harm our children.
