In a recent study, researchers examined the potential risks and benefits associated with vaccines and breastfeeding.
A recent article published in Breastfeeding Medicine describes a study conducted at the University of California San Diego, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences that examined the risks associated with vaccinating breastfeeding women. The researcher reviewed the most common types of vaccines, both active and inactive to determine if they would cause harm to an infant while breastfeeding.
The researcher reviewed the most common routine vaccines including, influenza, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). He also went ahead and examined vaccines related to risk factors and specialty vaccines. Some of those vaccines are hepatitis A, hepatitis B, anthrax, cholera, rabies, smallpox, and more.
The researcher found not only is it safe to be vaccinated while breastfeeding, but there are some known benefits involved. Those benefits include transferring maternal antibodies from mother to infant, and it also provides the infant with more antibodies that will result in little to no fever following an infant vaccine.
Written by Nicole A. Brown, MS
References
Anderson, P. (2019). Maternal Vaccination and Breastfeeding. Breastfeeding Medicine. Retrieved from DOI: 10.1089/bfm.2019.0045
Ryan, K. (2019). Is maternal vaccination safe during breastfeeding? Mary Ann Liebert, INC./Genetic Engineering News.
