Covid -19 vaccine while breastfeeding

[lasma]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering what your thoughts are on getting Covid-19 vaccine while breastfeeding?

My daughter is 6 weeks old so I cancelled it because wasn't sure.

Have any thoughts or advice? Have you gotten yours? Any help appreciated!

I've had it and bfing. Baby was and continues to be fine. Go for it

I had mine. No effect on my baby whatsoever. But some evidence Covid antibodies pass to your baby through your milk, so hopefully that’s been the case for us!

I had it. In fact even though I was struggling with breastfeeding at the time I decided to continue breast feeding until I had had both vaccine to try and pass on some immunity.

Do it for sure! Not only is it good for you, but baby will most likely get some antibodies too. I would be knocking the door down to get mine if it were me!

I've had the Pfizer and bf my 22 month old. All has been fine.

I'm 29 and had both AZ jabs, DD was 8 months when I had the first and is still feeding now at 12 months.

I had it and bfing my 3 year old, but I might have been more nervous with a newborn.

Weighing up the risk though, even if you're fit and healthy, many people feel really ill with Covid. Would you prefer the risk of being too ill to care for/bf baby for a few days or weeks, or risk of transfer through breastmilk (although no such effects have been speculated, let alone recorded).

Moderna double jabbed, currently BF a 3 month old. No issues at all & I don’t know why you wouldn’t tbh!

I've had both and continue to bf my 7month old. I was extra keen to have it when feeding ad may pass along some benefits (sort of similar to why you have the whooping cough vaccine when pregnant). Definitely do it!

I’ve had both Pfizer and BF. No issues for me or baby. As others have said I’m hoping my DD gets antibodies

I had my first Pfizer 3 weeks ago, baby was 2 weeks old. I had a sore arm forb2 days but other than that we've both been fine :)

Had my first Pfizer in May, baby was 9 months old. Got my second dose coming up and she will be a year old and still breastfeeding. No side effects for me or my baby after my first dose.

Had my 1st when baby was 4 weeks. Had my second today. Baby is EBF - no problems or issues and advice was do it, protect the baby with the vaccine if you can. Never crossed my mind not to.

Personally I'm very hesitant to get the jab while bf, I just think there hasn't been enough studies (purely because of the time it has been) to look at the long term effects it could potentially have in 1, 3, 5 years etc on the babies and I'm just unsure if I'm willing to take that risk. Also because there's been reports of it drying up milk for a few weeks which I don't want to risk in this hot weather for an exclusively breastfed baby and there's also been reports of it messing up period cycles which I find quite concerning because no other jab I've ever had has caused this. I will get the jab but personally I will be waiting until I've stopped breastfeeding as I'm just not willing to take that risk with my dd that it could potentially have a negative on her. If this vaccine and virus was 10 years old or something and all was OK that far on with the kids etc I would totally be going for it and my dd is most definitely getting all her usual baby jabs, but for me this is just too new and we just don't know if there will be any ill effect for them in the future.
This is just my opinion please don't come for me everyone 😅

Had my first, I was fine, baby was fine, it didn't dry up my milk or have any effect other than give me a sore arm. My second jag is next week and I'm happy that I'm able to do something that might make him safer in what has been a very worrisome time.

No medicine research explores what is or isn't safe for women who are pregnant/breastfeeding as throughly as it should, but the evidence is that the vaccines are safe in this context, and covid can be horrendous.

I believe that if any bits of the actual vaccine passed through in breastmilk then they would be digested by the baby just like anything else - sweetcorn, or jam, or milk. We do know however that some antibodies can be passed via milk.

If this vaccine had an effect orally we would have been given it orally.

I found this informatiom really useful and there have been new studies added since I had mine.
www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/coronavirus/

@Fleetw00d
Have you looked at the official guidance on the Royal College of Obstetics and Gynaecology? I'd trust these guys. They've sort of dedicated their lives to the topic and know a lot more than us. Anyway, under their FAQs is;

"Q. Can I have a COVID-19 vaccine if I am breastfeeding?
COVID-19 vaccines are recommended to breastfeeding women. There is no plausible mechanism by which any vaccine ingredient could pass to your baby through breast milk. You should therefore not stop breastfeeding in order to be vaccinated against COVID-19."

I think the benefits outweigh the risks.

When you state * "long term effects it could potentially have in 1, 3, 5 years etc on the babies and I'm just unsure if I'm willing to take that risk.*" Have you flipped that statement and wondered what the effects of Covid might potentially have on a unborn baby or the mum?

It did mess up my cycle - it brought it back with a bang after 3 years of no periods. But it's calmed down and hasn't affected feeding at all.

NHS first advised against vaccinating women who are breastfeeding. They have changed their minds since and started advising that breastfeeding women should have the vaccine after all...but based on what exactly? There certainly haven't been any long term studies conducted. No data does not equal safety.
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If there is no plausable way for the vaccine to harm the baby, surely the advice from the start should have been to offer breastfeeding women the vaccine.

NHS first advised against it as pregnant and breast feeding individuals were not part of the initial Covid vaccine trials. Now they have more data. For all cohorts.
Long term data for Covid vaccines isn't actually possible as Covid has only existed for 18 months or so. However vaccine technology has existed for more than 100 years, and research and testing for both mRNA vaccines ( such has Pfizer) has been around more than ten years. The AZ vaccine was based on the original SARS virus, so again, plenty of research.

I had my second jab yesterday and BFing. No issues here! Hope she gets some protection via my boobs.