Mum's kiss can protect newborns from infections: research

MOM’s kiss could give newborn babies lifelong protection against sore throats and ear infections, found a world-first study in New Zealand.

The University of Otago study aims to determine if newborns can receive, and establish, good bacteria that have been introduced to their mother's mouths.

Pregnant women will suck a probiotic lozenge each day of the last month of their pregnancy to colonise their mouths with the bacteria associated with preventing sore throats and ear infections.

Women would be checked to see if they naturally carried streptococcus salivarius K12, which occurs naturally in 5 per cent of the population.

Although, researchers were unaware why some people had K12, they knew that it was random. In fact, there were indications that it ran in families