Can I breastfeed whilst my baby receives his vaccinations?

[lazygaze]

THe nurse has told me that I cannot breastfeed whilst my son has his vaccinations- ie he has to be off the breast when she sticks the needle in :-s she says this is because it would be too much of a shock.. Surely it is going to be a shock for the poor little blighter anyway?!! Can anyone offer any insight into this? I'd like to feed him while he has them done if possible. I think.

Yes you can, it helps with the pain too. I have injected many babies when they are attached to breast, no reason it can't be done.

He might choke on the breastmilk I would think.

You can latch him on 2 seconds after the jabs are done - that's what I did. Babies forget almost instantly!

I fed my DS the second she pulled the needle out, I'm not sure now if feeding whilst they were injecting wasn't an option or if it just happened that way.
It definitely calmed him and I will do it again.

I had brilliant midwifes who suggested i bf while dd had the heel prick test and a jab...possibly BCG.

THen when ds was born the hosp staff insisted on taking him to the other side of teh room and not letting me even hold him for the injection

I think there has been a study showing that babies experienced less pain if they were breastfed whilst receiving the heel prick test.

I would google it but I don't have time.

The only reason I can think of is that the nurse is worried she may distracted by your norks and won't administer the jab properly?

Clutching at straws for a reason there.

At my docs they do both jabs at once, so it wouldn't be possible unless you wanted then one at a time, which would mean more shocks for the little fellow.

Breastfeeding/suckling is a recognised pain relief tool in babies - in my opinion it should be recommended for procedures where having a baby in a breast-feeding position will not interfere with my ability to do the procedure - so yes for heelpricks or the majority of baby immunisations, no for things like cannulas (which can be very difficult in chunky, tiny-veined babies!) and BCG vaccine (as you need to get the needle into a very specific place, if you inject too deeply you will get a worse localised reacion which may leave a bigger scar, if you don't go deep enough the tip of the needle may come out when injecting so you have to do it again - i like to have babies in a very specific position so I know I'm doing it as accurately as possible)

Oh, i'd advise against it in older babies who have teeth too!

Thanks everyone.. do you think I should insist on it then, or just have him right next to the boob and then latch him on straight away after to distract him?

I did for my second. Wish I had for my first. dd2 just flinched slightly and carried on feeding. dd1 screamed the place down.