What to do if a breastfeeding mother catches a cold or coughs

Whether women are pregnant or breastfeeding, they should not take medicine casually, because the hormones contained in the medicine can have a great impact on the baby's health. However, the human body often catches colds. If the cold is not treated promptly, the condition will worsen. So for breastfeeding mothers, what should they do if they have a cold or cough?

What to do if you have a cold or cough during breastfeeding

What should I do if I catch a cold and cough during breastfeeding? This is a question many mothers want to know. This is a problem that many parents are worried about because if they take medicine for a cold or cough during breastfeeding, they are afraid that the medicine will affect the breast milk. If they don't take medicine, they are afraid that the cold and cough will be transmitted to the baby.

Cold and cough are a respiratory infectious disease that is transmitted through droplets sprayed from the respiratory tract. Therefore, if a breastfeeding mother who has a cold breastfeeds her infant, the cold virus will not be transmitted to the infant through breast milk. In addition, after a breastfeeding woman is infected with a cold virus, her body will produce cold virus antibodies before symptoms appear. After the baby has this antibody in his body, breastfeeding can allow the cold virus antibodies to enter the baby's body through the breast milk, thereby enhancing his ability to resist colds.

Therefore, breastfeeding women can breastfeed their infants after catching a cold as long as they do not have symptoms such as fever and chills and their physical condition allows. However, although breast milk does not transmit cold viruses, breastfeeding women with colds can easily transmit the cold to their infants through breathing because they have close contact with them when breastfeeding or changing diapers. Therefore, breastfeeding women who have a cold need to wear a mask and wash their hands frequently when breastfeeding or doing other activities that require close contact with infants and young children. If necessary, they can also use a breast pump to extract the milk, put it in a bottle, and then have other people in the family who do not have a cold feed the baby.