Well, I'm a little behind on Lactnets and this has probably been well
covered-but I'll add it anyway.  I believe there is a protective effect of
breastfeeding for a child exposed to chicken pox, but I think there must be
all sorts of factors that also impact whether or not a breastfeeding (or
fed) child gets chicken pox and how severe a case they get.  From personal
experience, my two oldest children were liberally exposed to a cousin who
had chicken pox, during the fever stage when they are contagious (they spent
the day with my husband's brother's family who realized that day that what
their child had was chicken pox).  At the time, my girls were around 2 and
4, both had been breastfed, 2 year old was still breastfeeding.  Neither
child got the chicken pox!  I figured it must be because of breastfeeding,
because they were lying on the couch with their sick cousin!  Then, when my
oldest daughter finally got the cp, in first grade, she gave them to not
only her sister, who was 4, but also to her 7 month old brother (who was
breastfeeding) and both got a raging case of them (during the holidays of
course, with lovely pictures to remember it by!)  So, I could argue both
ways from my experience!

Marsha, who is so glad I don't have to worry about the vaccine for chicken
pox which made the news today!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Marsha Glass RN, BSN, IBCLC
Mothers have as powerful an influence over the welfare of future generations
as all other earthly causes combined.
C. Abbot
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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