Breastfeeding while sick

[LaraW]

I wondered if anyone knows if its OK to breastfeed while having the stomach flu. I think I ate something last night that didn't agree with me and have had fairly major sypmtoms (won't go into the gory details).

I'm breastfeeding my 11 month old son and just wondered if I'm going to risk getting him sick with my milk.

[BucknellAlum]

I have never heard that you should not breastfeed while sick. I think the baby gets antibodies through the milk. I found this on the La Leche League site:

Can I breastfeed my baby if I am sick?
Mothers have breastfed their babies through a variety of illnesses, from colds and infections to chronic conditions including asthma and diabetes. Your baby is exposed to any illness you have before you know you are sick. One of the beauties of human milk is that when your body makes antibodies to combat an illness, these antibodies are passed directly into your milk, giving protection and disease-fighting abilities to your baby, too.

[mst]

Lara- I have always heard that you can/should breastfeed through sickness. You might even pass on antibodies. But, if you feel too sick to bfd, you could always do a bottle, but don't forget to pump!

[LaraW]

I guess I knew that when it came to BF through colds etc, but I wondered if I have food poisoning if whatever made me sick could make him sick.

I'm probably overthinking it.

The thing is, is that I gave my pump to my sister, who just had a baby a month ago, so I don't have a pump and I have a limited supply of EBM in my freezer that's for daycare days.

[leebee]

I nursed my daughter through a horrible bout of food poisoning once--I was too miserable to pump. She did most of the work, so it was actually less trouble! She suffered no ill effects whatsoever, other than not liking it that I couldn't cuddle her much. One thing to watch for is that YOU don't get dehydrated.

[Bawstinn]

I've had the stomach flu twice while nursing (once being last week). The breastfeeding book I had and my Dr both said it was OK to nurse. Seems like I am the one picking up the daycare bugs.

Madeleine did not get it either time. Although it is hard to do, at least keep drinking water. Her grandparents took her during the day for me last week, and I only pumped once (I slept the entire day away) and didn't see any changes to my milk supply.

[MrsReber]

Yep, keep feeding. The lactation specialist told me that by the time you show symptoms, you have possibly already passed the illness to the baby- in which case, the baby needs the antibodies to fight off the illness.

I bf through all colds and a breast infection (ouch!)

Hope you're feeling better soon!

Susan

[karen w]

Ditto what everyone else has said. I had a full blown case of the flu with aches, bone pain, chills, fevers....you name it...when I was nursing my DD. I nursed her right through it. The only challenge was trying to keep up my milk supply when I was not eating. As I recall even though I was not eating, I forced myself to drink as much caloric fluids as possible. Fortunately, DD did most of the work and together we managed to keep up my supply for the duration.

Good luck Lara and feel better soon.

Karen