Jan, You asked about chicken pox protection conferred to babies from their breastfeeding mothers who have had chicken pox and presumably have antibodies to confer. I have done no formal testing but have mere anecdotal evidence. As a child I had chicken pox 2X. Joy. When my first son was 18 months+/- he was exposed to chicken pox. He was still bfing very frequently. He came down with a very mild case. At age six he was exposed again. By this time he had weaned. He contracted a horrid case of chicken pox - inside and out. His younger brother experienced almost the indentical situation. By the time little sister came around, she got the immunization....So from that experience it seems that a mild case is insufficient to fully immunize a child and that round two can be pretty bad. Not exactly scientific, but far too real for me! Gretchen Andrews. BA, IBCLC, LLLL private practice, Redlands, CA where the showers seem to be returning yet again...