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Infant feeding

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

Does anyone know if any of the antibodies from a flu jab will be passed on in breast milk?

6 replies

mumtocuddlebundle · 02/10/2012 16:14

Or does it not really work like that?

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Benaberry · 02/10/2012 17:37

According to the nurse who "inflicted" mine on me last week, yes, the do get passed on if you're BF

mumtocuddlebundle · 02/10/2012 17:57

Thanks I once asked a gp who said she wasn't sure.
Thought i'd post on here to see if anyone else had asked. Or if anyone had had Had flu jab whilst bf, but their baby had still managed to get flu.

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JollyToddler · 02/10/2012 18:01

Should be.

No vaccines are 100% though and the flu vaccine only protects you against the few strains of few that are likely to be most prevalent this winter.

So it won't even necessarily protect you. Having a baby get flu who is being bf by a vaccinated mother wouldn't prove anything.

mumtocuddlebundle · 02/10/2012 21:18

Thanks. I've researched a bit online and I think the antibodies created after a vaccine can't really be passed on in breastmilk.

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JollyToddler · 02/10/2012 22:38

kellymom.com/pregnancy/bf-prep/how_breastmilk_protects_newborns/

www.lalecheleague.org/faq/prevention.html

kellymom.com/bf/can-i-breastfeed/meds/vaccine-protection/

I got from those that anything nasty mum comes into contact with will trigger an immune response in her body. However she comes into contact with it. Some of the antibodies in mum's system will pass to baby through breastmilk.

So if mum meets someone with chicken pox, for example, her immune response is triggered. The chicken pox will try to attack her but because she's had it already her antibodies will fend it off. Her antibodies will also multiply because of this new attack. Some of those antibodies will be passed to the BFing baby, whether the baby has met a person with chicken pox or not.

Seeing as vaccines work by triggering an immune response and creating antibodies I assumed that some of the antibodies would pass through the milk, however they are created.

mumtocuddlebundle · 03/10/2012 06:23

Thanks. It seems to be quite complicated. IgG and IgA antibodies are different etc. And sounds like mothers vaccines will provide some protection to the breastfed baby but not complete protection, as it would if they had been immunised themselves. Suppose that'd be too good to be true.
I have baby and toddler- toddler no longer breastfeeding. It's making me wonder if it's worthwhile me expressing a cup of milk fot toddler to drink every morning throughout the winter to protect against bugs.

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