Breastfeeding, flu protection, how long, etc....

I am expecting Baby #5 on New Years Eve. I am requiring everyone that wants to come visit to get a flu shot. No one will get one yet all 40 memebers of my family want to come to the hospital to visit. I said no way. Now they want to know how long they have to wait before they can visit. How long do you think before my breastfeeding kicks in enough to boost the baby's immune system? Does that question make sense? I know breastfeeding helps right away but I want to make sure the baby has as much protection as possible before we are bombarded with germy visitors. All of us that live in the home got one. Thanks!

 

This is a very interesting question.

I've been digging on Kellymom (love that it's evidenced-based information!) & have found the following:


This link:

This link:

Directly below this info, there is a table showing the increasing levels of immunities in breastmilk.


All this data aside, my personal belief is make people wash hands or use hand sanitizer before touching your baby. If they are sick or have immediate family members who are sick, they need to wait until they are better to come visit. I don't think you need to have 40 people in the hospital. You need to rest from delivery & establish nursing with the baby as every baby is different. ...& if you aren't comfortable nursing in front of someone, they need to wait until you & the baby are comfortable & in the groove to be able to visit.

 

What makes me nervous is people are sometimes contagious before they even feel bad. I do feel comfortble nursing in front of others and it never bothered me when everyone came to visit with my other kids but after having twins hospitalized many times with RSV I have become a germophobe. I feel like by not limiting visitors with the twins I exposed them too much. They were a a month early and also born in cold/flu season. Thank you!

 

That would be scary! :hug: It's tough, but this baby'll more than likely be a full term singleton. Did you have to deal with RSV with the first 3? & did you nurse your twins?

 

Um....when the flu season is over? In all seriousness, influenza scares me because I have seen what it can do to babies. RSV and other cold viruses are spread by contact, so diligent handwashing decreases risk significantly. Influenza is spread by droplets in the air. A person can swear to you they are not sick, cough or sneeze once, and there are thousands of virus particles flying through the air. So, the question is why all these people are refusing and what the risk of them being exposed truly is. If any of them have kids that go to school or daycare then they are at a higher risk of getting it unless their kids are vaccinated. If it were my own house I wouldnt let other people's kids of any age visit unless they were vaccinated.

breastmilk does give protection but not as good as the vaccine. I have still seen many breastfed babies get sick with a nasty virus, perhaps not as sick as they would have been without the breastmilk but you are still dealing with a sneezing coughing feverish baby. Also, I tell moms to wait till baby has their first set of shots (6-8 weeks) before they really take them out in public. In addition to flu, pertussis is a real danger these days as we are trying to convince more adults to get the booster. The same can be thought when considering non essential visitors.

 

Just curious, do you have a reference for this?

And to the OP, I agree with PP 1. good hand washing is essential 2. Not to have anyone over who has recently been sick or been around others who have.

I certainly wouldnt have the visitors at the hospital but once you are home with continued exclusivity of breastfeeding I would feel comfortable. This article is lengthy but skim it if you have time. Its all about colonizing the baby with germs from mom. Then encourage medical staff to wear new sterile gloves as not to introduce the baby to any other germs. Once the baby has come out of you and been all over you, and breastfeeding is underway baby is on the road to lifelong protection from lots of things!

The article

 

My 3 year old was born in Nov (as well as my twins) but when my 3 yr old was born my husband was sick.. sore throat, sneezing etc. He wore a mask at first but the Dr and nurses were not really concerned. I nursed from day 1 and she never got sick (in fact got sick the first time at 2 1/2). We had 5 other kids at the time and they all came from school to the hospital to visit. I was just a hand washing nazi! I still am. When the twins were born, again Nov 28 last year, I had the kids in the hospital to visit but again hand washing nazi mom broke out! At home, I kept the babies in our room most of the time and hand washing was required to hold the babies. In fact the rule in our house anytime is wash your hands when you come home from anywhere. Everyone in our house was healthy all winter (we do not vaccinate). IMHO I think requiring anyone who wants to visit to have a flu vaccine may be a little extreme (someone could be contagious with a cold )but requiring hand washing and requesting that no one who is visibly sick to come is very reasonable and should be implemented. Since people can be contagious before they show signs that includes you.. you could be getting sick or your DH before you know it and the babies are exposed before you know they are. That is why all you can do is good hand washing, good diet and nurse for ultimate protection. I even slipped BM in my 3 yr old and 8 yr old milk to help boost them My older kids swore they would never drink a glass of milk I poured them because I might put BM in it!

 

My 14yr old was full term and exclusively breastfed and was hospitalized at 20 days old with RSV. I would not let a ton of people in my room especially kids( other than mine). My step sister brought her snotty nosed kids to my room and blamed the snot on allergies - those "allergies" nearly killed my newborn. The flu nearly got him at 13 months. You just never know how the baby's immune system will be breastfed or not. Easton is 3 months old and exclusively breastfed and i would be nervous with a ton of people around. The flu and RSV are serious business - and just not worth the chance. My opinion is probably extreme but having gone through as much as we did with Jared, it really is just not worth the chance.

 

So reading all the post it basically boils down to this: Every baby, mother, & family are different. Its all going to come down to your personal preference & a lot of really good hand washing. Invest in some nice soap

 

I don't have specific references off the top of my head (I'm sure i could find some), just experience. I've seen many babies hospitalized with RSV or influenza whose mothers have said to me "I don't understand, they're exclusively breastfed!" My own twins were luckily born in June, but they still had wheezing and ear infections when I brought RSV home to them at 8 mo, despite being breastfed (and exclusively so for their first 6 months).

 

All 3 of my kids were breastfed (still nursing #3). The twins fared pretty well as newborns (didn't get a cold until they were a few months old). Baby #3, however, was sick a lot last winter. My twins would get sick and then she would get it a few days later. She did seem to get less sick than the twins though, presumably from brestmilk immunities. She never got the flu, just colds. I think it's great that your kids got flu shots since they are probably most likely to infect your new baby.

 

Thanks so much to each and every one of you! I have decided to stick to my guns...get a flu shot or don't come around for a while. I work on a Mom Baby Unit and know how fragile these little ones are. I already have stressed to my family how vital it is to always wash your hands. With having such a huge family I just can't risk it.

 

Please make sure they get the shot and not the nasal spray. A dear friend of mine just had a baby 10 days ago. 7 days after the birth she got her toddler the live virus spray... & her daughter currently has the flu.

 

Glad you were able to come to a decision. I think this was a good discussion for all of us though

 

My family is slowly coming around and realizing I am serious about the flu shot....3 more people got them this week so they could come visit the baby and I!! : )

 

I think it is perfectly fine for you to tell them they need to get a flu shot if they want to visit you. It's your baby and you need to go with your gut feeling on it. If you give in, and then your baby gets sick from a sick visitor you'll be kicking yourself for not sticking to your guns. At the hospital where my twins were born, no children (visitors) were allowed on the floor during flu season (except siblings I think). RSV and Flu are serious business for babies that little. When my twins came home, I had one daughter in preschool and one in Kindergarten and I was always having a heart attack because of the germs! I exclusively breastfed and I think that helped, but one of my twins got the H1N1 flu when she was 9 months old (that was back in 2009 when there was the big scare about H1N1) Luckily she did ok, but I'm so thankful she didn't get it when she was just born. My other twin got it too, but just not as severe. They also got RSV too right around their first birthday. We can't protect them from everything and that's ok...but if there are certain things that we can do to help decrease exposure then I think it is a perfectly good idea. Good luck!
Shannon