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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Breastfeeding during jabs - anyone do this?

25 replies

ReshapeWhileDamp · 20/02/2011 21:14

I wanted to, but didn't, with DS1. The nurse was very disparaging, said it would only take a moment (as it did) and that it was too much bother to give him the breast. I suspect she just didn't want me to be stuck feeding him after the vaccinations - she'd clearly never seen me stand up and walk away, still with a latched-on infant!

Anyway, I've since read the study that suggests that small children really find the edge taken off painful procedures if they're eating something sweet, and I seem to remember that a suggestion from this report was that babies could be breastfed during vaccinations to give them comfort and something sweet.

My 9 wk old has his first lot of jabs on tuesday and I'd really like to try this. Yes, I KNOW it's only a second or two, but all the same. Any thoughts? Is the nurse likely to think I'm bonkers? Anyone done this with good effect?

OP posts:

pearlgirl · 20/02/2011 21:18

I have bf all of mine during some of their jabs - ds4 fed through his 1st and 2nd lot of jabs recently and didn't seem to notice them - he was so intent on his milk. The nurse didn't comment one way or the other.

aPixie · 20/02/2011 21:19

Well, ds2 just had his first jab last Thursday.

I asked the nurse if I could feed him, she said yes, I latched him on and he didn't even cry when having the jab. Much much easier than ds1 who I didn't feed and he screamed blue bloody murder then was too upset to feed so I could calm him down.

The nurse has to fill in paperwork after the jab anyway and you have to wait a certain amount of time to rule out immediate reaction to the jab so baby could easily be taken off the boob in that time. (or you could walk out with him still attached lol)

I don't think anyone would think you are bonkers for doing something that will keep your baby calm whilst he has a needle stuck in him.

Original poster

ReshapeWhileDamp · 20/02/2011 21:26

Oh, I don't really care if she thinks I'm bonkers! Not sure why I wrote that, really. Just wondered if people had found that it made a difference. I'll certainly give it a go.

OP posts:

WhatsWrongWithYou · 20/02/2011 21:32

I fed DS1 and he just flinched slightly and caarried on - makes the nurse's job easier so I can't see why it should be a problem.

crikeybadger · 20/02/2011 21:33

It should make a difference as it provides an analgesic effect.

There's a whole host of articles on kellymom of course

DuelingFanjo · 20/02/2011 21:34

oh, thank you for this thread. My DS has injections tomorrow and I didn't even know I could ask to do this. I am now.

Monkeytoo · 20/02/2011 21:36

I haven't during (although sounds like a good idea) but I have before and after and think it was very comforting (for us both :)). I saw a letter in Motherhood magazine (American) once where a woman submitted a photo of her breastfeeding her child throughout stitches on a head injury he had, apparently it made it so much less traumatic for him and he stayed still for the entire procedure.

Panzee · 20/02/2011 21:38

The nurse suggested I do this, I didn't know why at the time, just did as I was told! :o

Grumpla · 20/02/2011 21:39

Am I the only one flinching at the thought of sticking a needle in someone who has your nipple in their mouth?!?

Feeding immediately after jab makes sense to me though :)

Original poster

ReshapeWhileDamp · 20/02/2011 21:48

DS2 doesn't have teeth and his gums are ok. His usual response to pain while feeding (he gets gripey tummy pain) is generally to spit me out! So I think we'll be ok.

Thanks for the link to Kellymom, crikeybadger. Of course, just remembered that's where I read the studies originally. Mind like a sieve at the moment.

OP posts:

WhatsWrongWithYou · 20/02/2011 21:53

Grumpla, I'd flinch at the thought of sticking a needle in someone who has my nipple in their mouth, but fortunately it was the nurse, not me, who performed this procedure. Never heard of anyone carrying out vaccinations while bf their own baby!

SoozleQ · 20/02/2011 22:01

I fed DD during the first of one of her set of jabs. She was happy as larry eating away until the injection. Then her face crumpled up and she started screaming, milk dribbling out of her mouth :( I didn't want to keep feeding her through the following two injections in case she ended up associating feeding with pain. I latched her back on as soon as the third injection had been administered and she calmed down pretty quickly. The nurse was fine with me doing whatever I wanted feedingwise throughout it all.

Good luck :)

Grumpla · 20/02/2011 22:44

Haha, that would be REAL multitasking...

KaraStarbuckThrace · 21/02/2011 09:01

I fed DS straight after his injections, it seemed a little easier. The nurse found me somewhere to sit. Soothed him straight away

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 21/02/2011 09:07

i haven't with jabs, but dd2 had a brief hospital admission when tiny. a nurse came to take blood from her. i was bfing, and the nurse recommended carrying on, as this would really help her remain calm and settled. we did, and dd2 didn't bat an eyelid.

EauRouge · 21/02/2011 09:14

I have with all DD's jabs, it helps keep her still too. I'll BF her at her pre-school boosters too if she hasn't self-weaned by then, I'm sure that'll turn a few heads

PoledrathePissedOffFairy · 21/02/2011 09:18

DD3 had lots of needle sticks in her heel (she had HDN when she was born, so they had to keep monitoring her blood for some months afterwards). I always fed her during this as she stayed still and was much less distressed, even when they were squeezing her heel to get the blood out.

One of the paediatricians we saw had a syringe of glucose solution ready for her to suck (he'd obviously read the papers about the sweetness thing keeping them happy) but DD3 preferred to bfeed so he was happy with that. None of the paeds had any problem with me doing it.

AlaskaHQ · 21/02/2011 09:20

I always BF straight after the jab.

StarlightMcKenzie · 21/02/2011 09:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

ChildofIsis · 21/02/2011 09:24

I bf dd whilst she had her first jabs, not a flinch and no biting. She was a biter too.

Also fed her through her first cranial osteopathy session. She was very overdue and we had a ventouse and forceps assisted delivery. Lots of head tension and screaming for the first few weeks. Osteopathy cured it.

BaggedandTagged · 21/02/2011 09:30

No but he had rotavirus vaccine (oral) at the same time as his 6 wk and 4mth jabs so they pop that in when they do the injections and the sweetness distracts them

SteepApproach · 21/02/2011 11:11

I didn't think about it but lo happened to be feeding when we went in for her first jab, so I didn't unlatch her. She opened her mouth once to protest and then it was straight back on the boob. The nurse was totally fine with it and awed that I could get up and walk with lo still latched.

Unfortunately lo wasn't interested in latching on for the next jabs so those upset her more.

LoisLame · 21/02/2011 13:20

my bfc said I should feed straight after the jabs. She thought that feeding during might lead them to associate the pain with the breast iyswim. I always fed my DD straight after and she did cry for about 20 seconds while I got the boob out. Also (probably just coincidence) she didn't cry at all when she had her 4 month jabs.

mawbroon · 21/02/2011 16:49

I've done it for all ds1's and ds2's vaccinations.

DS1 used to come off the breast for a second to cry, and then go straight back on. DS2 cried for a couple of seconds longer before also going straight back on.

Would recommend trying it at least!

Original poster

ReshapeWhileDamp · 22/02/2011 10:28

Hmph. Well, I took DS2 along this morning for his jabs. I told the nurse what I was going to do (not sure she heard me) and started him feeding on his right side while we were talking about side effects, etc. Then the bloody nurse said 'right, well I always do these in a particular order and I do the right thigh first, so could you flip him over please?' I said, could you not do the one you were going to put in his left leg first? and she said 'it hurts less in the right thigh so I always do that one first'

Ok, this might not be bolleaux - perhaps the particular vaccine for one leg stings less than the other one? And don't they need to know which leg got which vaccine, in case of reactions? Still don't understand why she couldn't have switched legs and recorded it in his notes though. So he'd been very happily latched on and I had to take him off mid-suck and flip him, and he wasn't as keen to latch on right away. The right side bloody did hurt him, anyway. I wish I'd insisted about this but sometimes you just get a bit steamrollered.

So sadly, breastfeeding during jabs didn't seem to ake it less upsetting for him, though of course I don't know what it would've been like if I hadn't even tried. DS2 refused to latch back on afterwards, which was sad too, but he's ok now.

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