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Subject:
From:
"Terry Lynn Dise, MD" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Lactation Information and Discussion <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 31 Mar 1995 10:40:06 CST
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I have some questions about what you said about chicken pox and
breastfeeding.  My understanding of shingles is that it is almost always
unilateral, so even if a mom had shingles on one breast why couldn't she
breastfeed from the non-shingled breast and just cover the shingles with
gauze and tape?  Also, she could pump the affected breast until the shingles
resolve and just discard that milk.  The baby should have varicella antibody
from being in utero and should be protected.
My other question has to do with the mother who has chicken pox.  Ruth
Lawrence says that if a baby is born with lesions he should be isolated with
the mom and be allowed to breastfeed.  If the mom gets lesionswithin 6 days
of delivery and no lesions are present on the baby, they should be isolated
separately.  She also says that antibody appears in 48 hours in the milk so
the baby can be breastfed as soon as the mother and infant can be together.
Babies can also receive VZIG which can reduce severity of the disease.
This is from the fourth edition and is on page 487.  She doesn't have
anything in her index about shingles.
I was surprised to see that the recommendation was "not to breastfeed" when
I thought that our goals were to help women breastfeed if they want to, and
to try our best to get around any obstacles, rather than just say "you can't
breastfeed."  Anyway, now that we'll have the vaccine by mid June, maybe it
will become similar to Hepatitis B, which used to be a contraindication to
nursing, until we got the vaccine.


Terry Lynn Dise, MD
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