A healthy lifestyle does not produce the necessary immune response to protect a child from serious infection. Only immunisation or actually catching the disease can do this. Immunisation poses far less risk than catching the infection, and maintains the health of the child. Children who are healthy have an immune system which functions normally. Eating, sleeping and exercising well in a low stress environment will help keep the child's immune system strong.
Immunisation is still essential to create antibodies to protect the child from specific diseases.
Only conventional immunisations produce a measurable immune response. If children do catch an illness they have been immunised against, the illness is often milder than if they had not received the vaccine. If enough of the population is immunised, those who respond poorly to the vaccine will be much less likely to come in contact with the disease. Breastfeeding provides a small amount of protection for the baby. This protection varies from person to person and only lasts a short time.