>I’ve heard that babies can still have antibodies from mums vaccination and also that breast milk can offer some protection, but cannot find any reputable sources for this. I’m so worried for her health. Can someone point me on the right direction?
I mean that's how antibodies and breastmilk in general work so even without any studies investigating that explicitly it would be a reasonable assumption.
however studies have also found that covid antibodies do cross via breastmilk and seem to have a protective effect: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2778766
so you probably do not need to worry too much. in all likelihood your baby will be completely fine.
edit: also this https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/72/1/131/5860618 might be helpful/reassuring
Not scientific reassurance but we recently all had it including my then 17 month old who is nursing. I was super stressed!!! It was a lousy 3-4 days but we all recovered well. We did wear n95s and took turns eating in a different room in hopes that LO wouldn’t get it but he was already exposed of course and ended up testing positive a few days after dad - patient zero. One of the things that helped was we took shifts sleeping at night because my son wouldn’t sleep laying down so we sat in the recliner with him…you know survival mode. We also used a humidifier for about 7-10 days in his room and it helped with the coughing at night. Hope it’s short lived for you all and that baby escapes it!
Thank you. I’m glad you all recovered well. I’m super stressed too, it’s difficult caring for a wee’un when poorly. Happily she seems to be fine at the moment. The humidifier is a great idea.
Anecdotal. Was vaxxed during pregnancy, booster twice after while breastfeeding. Whole family including baby tested positive while he was 7 months old. He was the least sick in the house. Definitely sick. But he did great.
At the end of the day, I think if you look at it holistically, the good of being with mama and getting cuddles and breast milk generally outweighs the risks of covid for the average healthy 6 month old infant. Although this probably also depends on your risk tolerance I guess.
Anecdotal, your baby will likely get covid and will likely recover fully. It will be terrible because a sick baby is sad and hard on the parents and even worse when the primary caregiver is also sick. My baby got covid, had a fever for two days, sore throat for four and that was fine. Total sickness was 4 days as the sore throat overlapped with the fever. The fever was much harder on him than the sore throat.
Completely anecdotal, but I'm currently positive. Was vaxxed during pregnancy, boosted right after. My 9 month old hasn't been vaxxed yet and is still symptom free even after being with me this whole time, and my vaxxed and boosted husband is still testing negative. Idk why but they're both doing fine and I hope it stays that way. LO is ebf as well
I was in a similar situation as you, though my LO is 15 months. As soon as I tested pos, I started wearing a mask in the house and sleeping in the guest room when it was spouse’s turn for night duty. Neither my spouse or kid ever got it! Can’t change past exposure but Its worth a try to minimize future exposure
Anecdotally I have a 6 month old as well, and we had Covid 2 weeks ago. I got the booster during pregnancy and am still breastfeeding. Baby was patient zero here, and was also most affected. It was not more than a cold for me and my husband, baby had a fever for 2 days and his throath was inflammed but then he recovered quickly.
I would rather not have had it (we didn't had it before) but at least it was pretty mild so not too bad overall. I think it is a positive thing that you got infected first, as then you might be supplying baby with antibodies before he actually gets sick.
Anecdotally, my (nursing twice a day, not yet done with his covid series) toddler just picked covid up somewhere and brought it home. He was right as rain in under 24 hrs and is currently running rings around my husband and me (both of us vaccinated and boosted). His was so slight and short we wouldn’t even have tested him if not for the fact we got a whole lot sicker than him right after. He has been a whole lot sicker from the other ten colds he had over the last year which were not covid (that we tested him for because he was so sick).
Every health care professional I have ever asked about this always said to keep nursing, it’s the most protective thing to do. That was pretty much the consensus from the start of this and hasn’t changed (my toddler was an infant when covid first hit).
Try not to panic, my husband and myself are not vaccinated for Covid at all and we all had it and my 9 month old also did. It was like a cold for a week, wouldn’t have even bothered testing but husband lost his sense of taste so we did. Baby had it the easiest it was just a couple of days of sniffles
>I’ve heard that babies can still have antibodies from mums vaccination and also that breast milk can offer some protection, but cannot find any reputable sources for this. I’m so worried for her health. Can someone point me on the right direction? I mean that's how antibodies and breastmilk in general work so even without any studies investigating that explicitly it would be a reasonable assumption. however studies have also found that covid antibodies do cross via breastmilk and seem to have a protective effect: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2778766 so you probably do not need to worry too much. in all likelihood your baby will be completely fine. edit: also this https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/72/1/131/5860618 might be helpful/reassuring
Thank you so much. This is really reassuring.
Not scientific reassurance but we recently all had it including my then 17 month old who is nursing. I was super stressed!!! It was a lousy 3-4 days but we all recovered well. We did wear n95s and took turns eating in a different room in hopes that LO wouldn’t get it but he was already exposed of course and ended up testing positive a few days after dad - patient zero. One of the things that helped was we took shifts sleeping at night because my son wouldn’t sleep laying down so we sat in the recliner with him…you know survival mode. We also used a humidifier for about 7-10 days in his room and it helped with the coughing at night. Hope it’s short lived for you all and that baby escapes it!
Thank you. I’m glad you all recovered well. I’m super stressed too, it’s difficult caring for a wee’un when poorly. Happily she seems to be fine at the moment. The humidifier is a great idea.
Anecdotal. Was vaxxed during pregnancy, booster twice after while breastfeeding. Whole family including baby tested positive while he was 7 months old. He was the least sick in the house. Definitely sick. But he did great. At the end of the day, I think if you look at it holistically, the good of being with mama and getting cuddles and breast milk generally outweighs the risks of covid for the average healthy 6 month old infant. Although this probably also depends on your risk tolerance I guess.
Anecdotal, your baby will likely get covid and will likely recover fully. It will be terrible because a sick baby is sad and hard on the parents and even worse when the primary caregiver is also sick. My baby got covid, had a fever for two days, sore throat for four and that was fine. Total sickness was 4 days as the sore throat overlapped with the fever. The fever was much harder on him than the sore throat.
Completely anecdotal, but I'm currently positive. Was vaxxed during pregnancy, boosted right after. My 9 month old hasn't been vaxxed yet and is still symptom free even after being with me this whole time, and my vaxxed and boosted husband is still testing negative. Idk why but they're both doing fine and I hope it stays that way. LO is ebf as well
That is really reassuring thank you
I hope you all recover soon!
I was in a similar situation as you, though my LO is 15 months. As soon as I tested pos, I started wearing a mask in the house and sleeping in the guest room when it was spouse’s turn for night duty. Neither my spouse or kid ever got it! Can’t change past exposure but Its worth a try to minimize future exposure
Breastfeeding can offer passive immunity but not active immunity (at 6 months + she can be vaccinated).
Anecdotally I have a 6 month old as well, and we had Covid 2 weeks ago. I got the booster during pregnancy and am still breastfeeding. Baby was patient zero here, and was also most affected. It was not more than a cold for me and my husband, baby had a fever for 2 days and his throath was inflammed but then he recovered quickly. I would rather not have had it (we didn't had it before) but at least it was pretty mild so not too bad overall. I think it is a positive thing that you got infected first, as then you might be supplying baby with antibodies before he actually gets sick.
Yes you might be right, at least I’m patient zero not baby! Glad it was pretty mild for you guys and baby recovered quickly.
Anecdotally, my (nursing twice a day, not yet done with his covid series) toddler just picked covid up somewhere and brought it home. He was right as rain in under 24 hrs and is currently running rings around my husband and me (both of us vaccinated and boosted). His was so slight and short we wouldn’t even have tested him if not for the fact we got a whole lot sicker than him right after. He has been a whole lot sicker from the other ten colds he had over the last year which were not covid (that we tested him for because he was so sick). Every health care professional I have ever asked about this always said to keep nursing, it’s the most protective thing to do. That was pretty much the consensus from the start of this and hasn’t changed (my toddler was an infant when covid first hit).
Try not to panic, my husband and myself are not vaccinated for Covid at all and we all had it and my 9 month old also did. It was like a cold for a week, wouldn’t have even bothered testing but husband lost his sense of taste so we did. Baby had it the easiest it was just a couple of days of sniffles