Julie
You ask an intriguing question. Because YES,
when I was in private practice in Zimbabwe I had
several client babies(maybe as many as 10) go on
a nursing strike within a day or two of
immunizations, and at about 8 weeks. The shot
that did it was the Hib titre which was new then,
and given separately. But now I believe it's
given along with the DPT vaccines?? I worked
with strikes for other reasons too, but these
ones were especially baffling. It was really
weird - the baby would be exclusively breastfed,
happy, healthy, doing well, the mom by now very
experienced and confident, and then wham! A
sudden, complete refusal. Once I'd seen 3 or 4
of these babies I began to connect the dots, and
for the mother, just hearing that this might be a
side effect of the vaccine, seemed to be very
reassuring. I'd make the normal suggestions to
resolve a strike, including recommending the
mother ditch all other commitments for 24-48
hours so that she could devote her entire time to
the baby, offer the breast very often, be
extremely patient, seduce him etc etc and the
strike resolved in every case. But at the time,
it was as fraught for the mother and the baby as a strike is at any time.
The weird thing is the connection between the
immunization and the strike. It didn't seem to
be pain from the injection site that did
it. There seemed to be no other symptoms in the
baby, ie no pain, no sore mouth, nothing. If
anything, it seemed to be a
psychological/emotional reaction - as a normal
strike always is, I believe .... Now, having
lived in Africa nearly all my life, I confess to
being very much in favour of vaccination, so I'm
not prejudiced against immunization at all. But
I wish we could discover what it was about this
particular type of vaccine that resulted in this
particular somewhat delayed response. And I
should say that once the mother had succeeded in
getting the baby back and getting over the
strike, then the baby was fine and behaved just
the way he/she had done before, except that the
mother may have been just a tad more responsive
as recovering strike mothers always are!
I just googled Nursing Strike After Vaccination
and you'd be surprised just how many hits I
got. It seems that this is not an isolated
phenomenon - and some of the mother-type lists
describe the sudden nature of the strike and the
bafflement of the mother. Many of the more
professional sites/responses link pain from an
immunization site to a strike But, as I say, my
observation was that the cause didn't seem to be
physical pain at the site of the vaccination - it
was more of an emotional pain, which is what makes it so difficult!
Anyway, best to the mom. Please give feedback.
Pamela Morrison IBCLC
------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2014 17:26:19 -0700
From: the juliest person you know <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: vaccines and breastfeeding
PTP Baby girl is 2m1w. I saw mom and baby 2
months ago to work on latching. They were able
to latch w/o my help before I left their house.Â
 No contact until mom called me today.  Mom
reports all was well until baby got her shots 6
days ago. Since then, baby has been having a
crying fit every time she goes to nurse.  Mom
reports that she has to get the baby to sleep
and then they nurse while baby is asleep. That
is the only way baby will nurse. Baby did not
have a fever after getting vaccinated. She had
not spoken with her pediatrician, and I
recommended calling to report this and see if the
ped had any thoughts. Possibilities? Baby's
leg could be so sore that pressure on the leg
while in breastfeeding positions could be
hurting, except that only one leg got shots, and
baby reacts the same no matter which side she's
on.  I suggested using the Australian position
(described over the phone) because an atypical
breastfeeding position could distract the baby
enough for her to nurse. Suggested massaging
the baby, either she does it or hire a
professional baby masseuse. Could the stress of
getting the shots cause such a strong
reaction? Could her stomach be bothering her?Â
 Her mouth? Has anyone ever seen or heard of a
baby who refuses to nurse after getting
vaccinated? What worked? What other
possibilities might there be here? It could be
something else coincidental yet unrelated, but
the mom feels strongly that it's related to
getting the shots. Thanks, Julie Tardos ~~~~~
You can't eat your broccoli until you've eaten your ice cream.
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