World Health Organisation (WHO) Excerpt from Living Guidance for Clinical Management of COVID-19. WHO, 23 November 2021 To facilitate breastfeeding, mothers and babies should be enabled to stay together as much as possible, to have skin-to-skin contact, to feed their baby responsively and to have access to ongoing support when this is needed. Considering the protection that human milk and breastfeeding offers the baby and the minimal role it plays in the transmission of other respiratory viruses, it is important that we do all we can to continue to promote, protect and support breastfeeding.

There is also evidence that mothers with Covid-19 pass their antibodies to their baby through breastmilk, thereby giving protection to their baby. There is currently no evidence that Covid-19 can be passed to the baby through breastfeeding. There are numerous live constituents in human milk, including immunoglobulins, antiviral factors, cytokines and leucocytes that help to destroy harmful pathogens and boost the baby’s immune system. There is a wealth of evidence that breastfeeding reduces the risk of babies developing infectious diseases. Official statements UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) Excerpt from Supporting Health Professionals During COVID-19. UNICEF Organisations with statements about breastfeeding with coronavirus include: UNICEF 2, World Health Organisation 3, La Leche League International 4, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine 5 and Public Health England (UK government) 6 All the above advocate for continuing to breastfeed while taking hygiene precautions, a selection are copied below. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): What Parents Should Know, UNICEF, Updated December 2021Ĭan you continue to breastfeed with COVID-19 disease?.Q&A on Coronaviruses (COVID-19), World Health Organisation, Updated May 2021.1 For answers to general questions about the disease see: New variants may have different symptoms. Symptoms can include a high temperature (fever), dry cough and shortness of breath however a number of other symptoms are possible. It is associated with a respiratory infection which affects breathing and the lungs. COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 is a strain of coronavirus (a type of virus) that first came to public attention in December 2019.

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