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Is It Safe To Breastfeed When Suffering From Chicken Pox?

Posted on Fri, 13 Mar 2015

Question: my sister received chicken pox from me...she has a 3 month old child i want to ask will he get chicken pox as well and breastfeeding is good in this situation or not and is it dangerous for the baby or not..plz help we are in trouble and in my case it was milder case i recovered in 12 days

Answered by Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (29 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
mother and child should be seperated

Detailed Answer:
Hello

Thanks for the query

Your sister stands a very high risk of transmitting the chicken pox infection to her child. I suggest that you seperate the mother and child until the fever settles down and also the skin lesions are better.
I also recommend to avoid breast feeding while she is infective.
Please seek help from an internal medicine specialist to re start breast feeding and to know whether or not she is still infective.
I must add here that the skin lesions are highly infective as well

I hope I was of help, if you have any further queries please get back to me

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (5 minutes later)

dear sir, thank you for your answer but my sister has only 2-3 marks on body also is it good to separate child for 5-6 days

Answered by Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (2 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Follow up

Detailed Answer:
Hello

Thanks for getting back

Yes, the child has to be seperated from the mother. Please make sure to see a doctor to start on antiviral treatment for the chicken pox. Infection can be airborne and does not soley depend on the skin lesions

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (45 hours later)

sir i have consulted 2 of the pediatrician in my city they advised me that child should not stop mothers feeding and told not to separate the two...they told child will get immunity automatically from mothers milk and also i have one rash or pimple on my face can i get it twice as my rashes have already dried up and scabbed.

Answered by Dr. Rakesh Madhyastha (13 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Follow up

Detailed Answer:
Hello

I am extremely sorry for the short delay in my reply. I was on call at my hospital.

I am guessing that the child and the mother are already together and she is breastfeeding. It means that the child is already exposed to the virus. Please watch out for the child developing fever and also skin lesions. I must add here that if god forbid the child develops chicken pox he will have to be treated with Immunoglobulins.
Scabs also carry risk of transmission of infection, please be careful with them

Regards

Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar