Breastfeeding While Sick?

Courtney - posted on 09/28/2009

what great advice. Keep on nursing momma! ( i had an er nurse tell me to not breastfeed the bae if I was sick. I wasn't at the time, but later when my kid was sick i with held until the crying for milk was so pitiful I called LLL. Hooray for them!)

Sabrina - posted on 09/28/2009

I remeber when I was sick it was so hard to feed. But it is the best time cause like the other mom's have pointed out your body produces more antibodies and then they are passed to baby. But yes becareful to clear any meds you might take with a dr. My daughter rarely gets sick and she has 5 older siblings. And when she does get a little cold she recovers fast and it is not bad.

Stina - posted on 09/28/2009

Keep nursing! You are making antibodies for the illness you have so if your baby even catches whatever you have, it will be a much milder case. My kids never had worse than a cold while I breastfed them even when our household had flu going around.

Natasha - posted on 09/28/2009

I have heard (and I like to believe it is true!) that if the mother is unwell she secretes more of the sleepy hormone in her breastmilk so the baby sleeps a bit more giving the mummy more time to rest. I had a really bad tummy bug when my lovely girl was about 5 months and I couldn't even move off the bed to feed her but she just snuggled up to me and slept through the night which is very unlike her. So YES definately carry on breastfeeding as long as you aren't taking any medicine that is not comatable with breastfeeding....and get well soon x x

Michelle - posted on 09/28/2009

Unless you have HIV or are undergoing chemo, it is fine. Actually,some amt. of immunity may be passed to your baby, which is good. You won't pass your illness to the baby.

Jan - posted on 09/28/2009

Your little one will be fine to continue B/F whilst you are unwell, just make sure you take care of yourself & get as much rest as baby allows, if you have family/friends who can spare an hour or two, see if they can lend a hand. I wish you well. x

Jackie - posted on 09/28/2009

Remember also you are sick you need to rest because you are nursing. So you should only be nursing, eating, drinking and changing diapers. Everything else can wait until you are better or someone else gets sick of it and does it themselves. You can even nurse while you have a tummy bug and coming out both ends. The trick is really to only nurse, hydrate, rest and call on whatever support system you have. I only got the tummy bug once while nursing. Luckily it was the weekend and my husband was home. He kept the baby and our older daughter downstairs and brought me the baby when ever he was hungry. Even helped me latch him on while laying down. When he was done eating he would take him back downstairs, and burp and change him for me.

Sheila - posted on 09/28/2009

Of course you can still do it...in fact you are doing him a favour. The antibodies your body is producing to fight off the cold is being passed onto him through your breastmilk, which is helping him build his immunity. He may still get sick- but the severity will be much less if you fed him an alternate way.



My 1.5 month old is sick right now too :( Goodluck!

Minnie - posted on 09/28/2009

You absolutely should continue to breastfeed. Baby gets your immunities- while they may not absolutely prevent him from getting sick they may lessen the severity and duration of the illness.

And even if you gave him a bottle it would make no difference- your house is not a sterile environment- everyone who lives in it is exposed to the same germs.

Jamie - posted on 09/28/2009

It's perfectly safe to breastfeed while sick in most cases. It usually won't pass to the baby and if you are taking any meds just get them cleared with your doctor first. Also if y ou go to Kellymom.com there is a list of medications and how safe they are to take while you feed. Just stay hydrated and keep your calories up still or you could lose your milk volume or all together.