NURSING MOTHERS - ARE YOU GETTING VACCINATED FOR H1N1?

[Anonymous]

I am a nursing mother to a 10 week old baby and I wanted to know whether other nursing mothers to children under 6 months are going to receive the H1N1 vaccine. I am leaning towards being vaccinated, but I am nervous that the virus components will leak into my breastmilk and could adversely affect my baby. If I were not nursing then I would definitely get vaccinated. I am also being increasingly paranoid concerning visits from friends wanting to hold my baby - particularly when friends want to visit and they have kids in daycare with them or school age children. I feel awful for admitting this! I think I might slow down the visits for the next couple of months. Seeing how I feel I believe getting the vaccine would help me mentally, but then I do not want to start thinking that I will only allow my child around persons who have been vaccinated. Essentially, I am a new, nursing mother who is a hot mess and who wants to protect her baby.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am.

[Anonymous]

Yes I am, and I hope that antibodies DO leak into my breast milk and protect my baby.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I am planning to. My daughter's 10 months and she'll be getting the vaccine, too.

[Anonymous]

Yes. The CDC has primary caregivers of infants less than 6 months old on the high priority list as our children cannot be vaccinated. Talk with your pediatrician ASAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I am also being increasingly paranoid concerning visits from friends wanting to hold my baby - particularly when friends want to visit and they have kids in daycare with them or school age children. I feel awful for admitting this! I think I might slow down the visits for the next couple of months. Seeing how I feel I believe getting the vaccine would help me mentally, but then I do not want to start thinking that I will only allow my child around persons who have been vaccinated. Essentially, I am a new, nursing mother who is a hot mess and who wants to protect her baby.

You are the mother - and need to do what you are comfortable with. You are not crazy in not wanting to expose your child who has a immature immune system to the world at large. When ever we had visitors the 1st thing I made them do was wash their hands. No one had an issue with this - and many of my friends aksed to do it as they walked into the house. There will be more than enough time in the future for visits.

Also - when you do go out with your infant be aware that peple love infants. Random people will come up and touch their hands (and then your child will put their hand in their mouth). If you weat your infant in a sling it is less likely someone will touch your infant. In my experience, a baby bjorn is an advertisement to touch - unless you have a blanket over the child.

[Anonymous]

i am nursing my 4 month old and received it yesterday (mist version). also got my flu shot -seasonal- earlier in the month.

[Anonymous]

I BF and just got vaccinated. There were lots of BFing mothers at the site too. I didn't do much research into it, but my hope is that the immunities that I pass on will outweigh any negatives.

[Anonymous]

OP here - thank you for your responses. I am quite nervous, but believe being vaccinated is best.

[Anonymous]

I am nursing, and my internist strongly recommended that I get vaccinated for both seasonal and H1N1 flu. She indicated that nursing can depress the immune system, because it takes so much energy, your body is in overdrive, nutrients going to the milk, etc., which can make nursing moms more vulnerable to getting sick(er). She was under the impression nursing moms were (or perhaps, should be) on the priority list (they don't appear to be, however, from what I've read).

[Anonymous]

I decided not to get the flu mist, which was the only vaccine available when I got my DD vaccinated, for two reasons. First, it contains a live virus, and therefore has the potential to make the recipient sick with the swine flu, albeit a milder version. I didn't want to risk getting swine flu from the flu mist and giving it to DD before her vaccine becomes effective. Second, DH did some research, and found some suggestion that they don't yet know whether the live virus from the flu mist passes through breast milk. So we erred on the side of caution and decided to wait to see if the shot becomes available. All of that being said, on some level I probably would feel more comfortable if I had already been vaccinated like all of the PPs, even if it involved the flu mist.

[Anonymous]

I'm a nursing mom of a nine-week-old. I will be getting the injectible version of both flu vaccines, not the mist, at the advice of my pediatrician. He indicated as the PP did that the injection of swine flu vaccine has a dead virus but the mist has a live one and that puts my child at risk.

[Anonymous]

Does anyone have any articles or information on how/if our getting vaccinated will help our nursing babies? I'm just wondering if there have been any studies on the antibodies from vaccines being passed into our breast milk, or if it is just wishful thinking.

I'll be getting vaccinated either way.