Hello and Happy Thursday. This weekend is my birthday (41!) and I will be celebrating by staying in my house, just like every other day. The older child did promise me a gift, though, so that is something to look forward to.
Thanks to all the new subscribers after the Toxic Bay Metals post. A reminder if you want to see all the posts they are all saved and you can browse here. And if you’re looking for how to support…consider pre-ordering The Family Firm (or buying Expecting Better or Cribsheet).
Breastmilk Antibodies & Vaccine
I’ve talked some about the vaccine while breastfeeding (TL;DR: Yes, it’s fine). A number of people have asked me whether they should, effectively, keep breastfeeding so when they get vaccinated their baby can have antibodies.
The short answer is that we do not completely know. Small sample data suggests that mothers who recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies in their breastmilk. This is what we’d expect, based on our understanding of antibodies, so even though the samples are small this seems very likely to be confirmed in larger samples.
We do not yet know whether antibodies produced through vaccines will do the same but there is no reason to think they will not. (In fact, it would be really, really bizarre if they didn’t).
What is less clear is the degree to which antibodies delivered through milk in this way will protect infants. They are likely to do so to some extent, like other antibodies which are passed through milk. But how much? For how long? Totally unclear. And it may be a long time, maybe forever, before we really know this, especially given the low risk to infants and children. Even without antibodies, they are unlikely to be infected.
My bottom line read is that this is probably not a reason to change your breastfeeding plans unless you are really, really close to the margin.
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