to expect breastmilk to protect my baby from the pox?

[Nagoo]

ds has chicken pox.

dd is 13 weeks and ebf.

I am immune.

what's the odds that dd will get it too?

Pretty high :o

Don't know the odds but my friend's 6 week old dd (also bf) caught it recently from her brother. HV was adamant she wouldn't get it but she did. She was poorly for a while but fine. So yes YABU but fingers crossed.

erm, yes, yabu!

your baby is less likely to get it, but it isn't a given that he cannot contract it

I want stats. and better than that, anecdotes to take as gospel...

Yeah, pretty high, tbh. Your bm might make her pox lighter, but I don't think it will give her protection from it.

High (sorry). Passive immunity (inherited from you) lasts 3 months at the outside according to a study I read when my oldest came home with pox and DD2 was 14 weeks old. And yes, she caught it.

Dd1 just getting over it. Am hoping 5 mo dd2 will escape. Dr thinks it's unlikely she'll get it but lots of people on here said their ebf dc got it.

An EBF baby can still catch CP, and your antibodies will help her deal with it. This can however mean that her immune system doesn't mount a full response (because your antibodies have done it for her), so she might get it a second time.

It's EXTREMELY contagious, I think my DS2 actually caught it from looking at a photograph of my DD1 and DD at the time......:o

Nah, IME it's one of those things- by the time you realise one has it, the rest have been infected, breastmilk or no breastmilk, kevlar sleepsuit, isolation booth- nowt

She might be lucky and get it mildly, but I'd say it was pretty likely she'd get it, yep.

Have heard that expressing bm onto the spots can make them less itchy/dry them out, but never tried it myself!

By 'myself' I mean on ds when he had it, not me

DS caught it from DD when he was 4 months old and exclusively bf. He had a lot of spots but didn't seem as ill in the early stages or as uncomfortable as DD (who was coming up for 3 at the time).

my first ds had it last year and ds2 was a baby of 8 weeks old- he was exclusively breastfed and never got the chickenpox. now ds2 is still breastfed and has been in close proximity of other children recently with chickenpox and he still has not caught it.

I want stats. and better than that, anecdotes to take as gospel...

:o

You rock

Sorry my dd caught chicken pox at 13 weeks after being fed breast milk exclusively.

My friend's friend's baby got it very badly even though he was BF.

DS1 - FF from 10 days, exposed at least 6 times, finally caught it at 3 and a half years. Mild case, few spots, no temp;

DS2 - exclusively BF, caught it at 4 months; thousands of spots, very poorly and itchy.

Just one of those things, I guess...

Best Friends 3rd DC caught it from the other 2 at 2 weeks of age despite being BF. My 11 month old DD who was not BF had spent more time with the infected children than the baby didn't get it.

My cousin's 8 week old exclusively bf baby got CP from his older sister and also had it worse than the sister as some of the spots went inwards, or something like that.

DS2 caught it at 8mo whilst still being bf. Know of 2 others that did also..

DS got it at 11 months ish from dd who was 2. A friend with kids the same age and bfing little one got it too. We had both been hoping for breast milk immunity but were housebound for a month instead!

I currently have chicken pox it hits without rhyme or reason imo.

My bf week old son caught it from my 2 year old, albeit very mild, a dozen spots or so. He's now almost 6, been around CP but never caught it again!

I caught it as an ebf 4 month old. And then again at 18 months as my immune system didn't bother so much first time round due to my dm's antibodies. Was ok at 4 months. Horrendous at 18 months apparently.