alarming CDC breastfeeding policy for H1N1

[velveeta]

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/infantfeeding.htm

The CDC is recommending that new mothers with suspected or confirmed H1N1 not even *hold* their babies, and have someone else be in charge of "feeding" until the illness passes.

I was hoping someone here with some influence could remind them that anti-bodies to illness in the mother pass through her milk to her nursling, making for excellent protection against mother's illness.

I am truly disturbed over this! I believe it is dangerous and irresponsible.

[lolar2]

They do suggest pumping breast milk and feeding that, for the antibodies, rather than formula. They even specify that breast milk-feeding should continue while the mother is taking flu medications, and that babies under six months should get all their feedings as breast milk. So they aren't completely and totally off their rockers.

They also say things like " Since this is a new virus, we don’t know yet about specific protection against it. Mothers pass on protective antibodies to their baby during breastfeeding. Antibodies are a type of protein made by the immune system in the body. Antibodies help fight off infection.

If you are sick with flu and are breastfeeding, someone who is not sick can give your baby your expressed milk. "

And

"Should I stop breastfeeding my baby if I think I have come in contact with the flu?

No. Because mothers make antibodies to fight diseases they come in contact with, their milk is custom-made to fight the diseases their babies are exposed to as well. This is really important in young babies when their immune system is still developing."

[PatioGardener]

Actually, CDC seems to have one of the most breastfeeding supportive H1N1 policies. (As Lolar2 pointed out above.) I think only the NHS (UK) is more supportive - saying continue to breastfeed and do skin-to-skin etc.

Health Canada is very non-committal, and I know of one Canadian hospital that is seperating newborns of mothers with H1N1 at birth and discarding the pumped colostrum for 48 hours!

[smeep]

I agree that it's great they don't recommend formula and promote breastmilk but....via bottle? Yeah, let's just forget about nipple preference and confusion, supply problems, mums who don't have a proper pump, etc. Ugh.

[lolar2]

I speculate the people who put out that information are probably in the infectious-diseases department and aren't fully aware of nipple confusion-type problems.

[rlmueller]

The biggest kiss my ass

that I can muster. Anyone ever had Norwah...I can't spell it...the cruise ship virus? I did. I went to emergency room with hubby and son--diarreah and vomitted induced dehydration. I have nearly no memory of three days--but my husband brought me my 6 month old boy to breastfeed. 4 days later I have to call and ambulance for my husband who contracted it from me. We all slept together and I breastfed. My baby was the only one in the house who did not get ill.

[Storm Bride]

You know, I pumped successfully with ds1, and it wasn't that big a deal...but I honestly can't imagine adding the hassle of pumping to coping with my mini-horde, and my newborn. Plus, who else am I going to get to feed my baby? DH? DS1? If I've got H1N1, they're quite likely to have it, too!

This is one of those things that might sound good, in theory (it actually doesn't sound good to me, even in theory), but could get awfully complicated and difficult when it came down to logistics. That's even without factoring in nipple confusion.

As to the hospital that's throwing away colostrum...I could cry. I might cry. Throwing away colostrum??? Nuttiness.

[velveeta]

I guess I am mainly upset because an acquaintance of mine is not nursing her newborn twins because of this. And I am concerned that breastfeeding will fail because she is not building her supply by nursing during this critical period.

[PatioGardener]

Originally Posted by velveeta

I guess I am mainly upset because an acquaintance of mine is not nursing her newborn twins because of this. And I am concerned that breastfeeding will fail because she is not building her supply by nursing during this critical period.

This is so sad! How long has it been? Even the CDC just recommend a 48h period until Mama has had 48h of tamiflu. And don't they have something that says if milk cannot be expressed and fed by someone else then Mama just needs to wah hands and wear a mask? I am sure I read that somewhere on the CDC site.

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by PatioGardener

This is so sad! How long has it been? Even the CDC just recommend a 48h period until Mama has had 48h of tamiflu. And don't they have something that says if milk cannot be expressed and fed by someone else then Mama just needs to wah hands and wear a mask? I am sure I read that somewhere on the CDC site.

Yes, it says exactly that. On the original link.

[Pookietooth]

Oh boy, we are so a bottle feeding society.

[elanorh]

You know, I'd actually been hoping that a 'silver lining' of H1N1 would be that more mothers would focus on nursing their babies through the flu season, and more support for mothers who are nursing through flu season.

Having EP'd for a period of time, I can't imagine how awful it would be for a mother with a wee one who is miserably sick, to try to pump instead of just nurse. It seems to me that good hand washing etc. would be as effective, unless the baby is kept in a bubble the whole time (and again, it ignores the long-term impact of the bottlefeeding in re: nipple confusion etc.).

[tanyam926]

This advice is so idiotic, I can't even believe it.

So, if you live in the same house as your baby but don't touch your baby, then your baby won't get sick????? Yeah right.

And pumping is exactly what I want to be doing when I am sick w/the flu. I had the flu a couple of wks ago (not swine) and I couldn't even move I was in so much pain. All I could do was lay there when my dh brought ds3 in to nurse.

This just isn't realistic advice. Moms will see this and think if they can't manage to pump while they are sick then they should give formula which is exactly opposite of what they should be doing.

Obviously there aren't any nursing mothers in the group of drs who wrote that statement.

[Claire and Boys]

Oh that's completely ridiculous.

I had a conversation with a lady on Twitter who has been diagnosed with swineflu. She was told by *10* different doctors/pharmacists not to nurse her baby whilst on antivirals, to give formula and pump and dump.

I and several others sent her articles from the NHS and such showing that there is no risk to her baby from the medication. She spoke to someone on the Motherrisk helpline who advised her to keep nursing, so that's what she's doing. Herself and her husband got it but so far baby is just fine.

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by Claire and Boys

I had a conversation with a lady on Twitter who has been diagnosed with swineflu. She was told by *10* different doctors/pharmacists not to nurse her baby whilst on antivirals, to give formula and pump and dump.

That is bad advice from the doctors and pharmacists, but it is not what the CDC website says. At least the one referenced above. The CDC recommendation is to pump and FEED the expressed milk, not formula and certainly not to dump the milk.

Again-- impractical advice, yes. But they are not advocating formula.

[beckyand3littlemonsters]

what if your a single mum, don't have family very close by and baby wants feeding at 2am?

[carmel23]

the CDC's primary goal is to stop the spread of infections diseases, especially to vulnerable populations. Nipple confusion is bad, but I'd take that over having a newborn hospitalized any day.

My last little one was hospitalized with RSV before she was 8 weeks old. This was really difficult, and not something to be flip about (if a newborn less then eight weeks-old is hospitalized with a fever they routinely do a spinal tap and urinary catheterization ). It was hard on my entire family emotionally and financially.

Keeping the the baby from getting the virus would be my primary objective, even if it meant not holding baby, etc. This is really the worse of 2 evils.

I don't own any bottles and have breastfed all my babies, but wouldn't risk passing the flu to a newborn, whether it was just the regular old flu or H1N1. Let's hope mamas can stay healthy and not have to make choices like that!

[MovingMomma]

The CDC has conflicting (and more breastfeeding friendly!) advice on a different page of their website. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals...t-settings.htm states: "Influenza-infected mothers who are breast feeding should put on a surgical mask and then practice hand hygiene before each feeding or other close contact with their infants. These practices should continue for each feeding during the 5-day period following the mother’s symptom onset."

The date stamps on the page indicate that this one is more recent than the one that advises feeding expressed breastmilk.

[lolar2]

Originally Posted by MovingMomma

The CDC has conflicting (and more breastfeeding friendly!) advice on a different page of their website. http://www.cdc.gov/flu/professionals...t-settings.htm states: "Influenza-infected mothers who are breast feeding should put on a surgical mask and then practice hand hygiene before each feeding or other close contact with their infants. These practices should continue for each feeding during the 5-day period following the mother’s symptom onset."

The date stamps on the page indicate that this one is more recent than the one that advises feeding expressed breastmilk.

I'm not a bit surprised. It's the CenterS for Disease Control, plural, and those two pages were probably put out by two completely different groups in different buildings who never spoke to one another!

[tanyam926]

I understand those of you that are saying that keeping the baby from getting the flu is important, what I am saying is that unless the baby moves out of the house, it is impossible to keep the baby from getting the germs that are floating around the house. That's why I think the CDC advice is ridiculous.

Even if I am holed up in a room sick, the air vents will spread my germs, my dh will touch the faucet in the bathroom and then touch the baby, it is IMPOSSIBLE to clean every single germ after you touch something or breathe so it is likely that other people in the house will get sick.

I am not challenging the assertion that we should try to keep babies away from the flu viruses, I am saying that the CDC advise for mom to pump milk and not hold the baby will not keep babies from getting sick, and can cause more problems and lead to babies getting less breastmilk which is exactly what they need to stay healthy.