Can You Breastfeed When You’re Sick?

Taking care of baby when you’re sick is no fun… but can you breastfeed when you’re sick? What about breastfeeding with swine flu (H1N1)?

Breastfeeding, in almost all cases, should continue when mom is sick.

Most illness in mom is caused by a virus, which are typically most contagious before mom even knows she’s sick. That means baby has already been exposed. Most of the time, sudden weaning causes more problems than it solves – both for baby’s physical and emotional well being.

When you’re sick, all you want to do is lie in bed and watch movies or read a book. But, you’ve got a baby to feed. Unlike formula-feeding moms, you can resume lying in bed while nourishing your child. So think about that whenever you complain about nursing a baby: at least you don’t have to get up.

The best thing you can do when you’re sick with a cold, flu or another common illness is to continue nursing your child.

Breastmilk contains antibodies that are specific to your illness.

If you have the flu for example, your milk will protect your baby against the flu or at least lessen the severity of it. How cool is that?! Often, the nursing baby in the house doesn’t get sick at all, especially if the baby is still exclusively breastfed and not eating solid foods yet.

It is very rare that you’ll have to discontinue breastfeeding because of an illness.

As always, consult with a breastfeeding supportive health care provider about your specific condition. For some serious illnesses, you may be advised to give your child expressed breastmilk for a short time because you are taking medication incompatible with nursing – or you’ll have to nurse on a particular schedule so that the baby is eating when the drug isn’t present in your milk.

But, in the vast majority of instances, you can breastfeed just fine.

Here is a link to an article published by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on the topic: Can I Breastfeed With Swine Flu (H1N1)?

In a nutshell, the article discourages weaning even in the case of mom being sick with swine flu. It suggests mom pump her milk and have someone else feed baby, so that baby can continue to receive antibodies she has produced.

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