Covid-19 and breastfeeding: what’s the risk?

• Published in: Journal of perinatology Vol. 40; no. 10; pp. 1459 - 1461
• Main Authors: Hand, Ivan L., Noble, Lawrence
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Nature Publishing Group US 01-10-2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/699/255/2514; 692/700/1720; Betacoronavirus - isolation & purification; Breast feeding; Breast Feeding - adverse effects; Breast Feeding - methods; Breastfeeding & lactation; Comment; Coronavirus Infections - diagnosis; Coronavirus Infections - epidemiology; Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control; Coronavirus Infections - transmission; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; Female; Health risk assessment; Humans; Infant; Infection Control - methods; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical - prevention & control; Male; Maternal & child health; Medical colleges; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Milk, Human - virology; Neonatology; Pandemics - prevention & control; Pediatric Surgery; Pediatrics; Pneumonia, Viral - diagnosis; Pneumonia, Viral - epidemiology; Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control; Pneumonia, Viral - transmission; SARS-CoV-2
• ISSN: 0743-8346; 1476-5543
• DOI: 10.1038/s41372-020-0738-6

Due to limited data concerning maternal-infant transmission of Covid-19, there are varying guidelines on how to manage delivery and immediate newborn care of mothers with or suspected of Covid-19. Many centers have chosen to universally screen mothers given the high rates of asymptomatic disease in the community along with the need to cohort Covid positive and negative patients. The AAP and CDC, although strongly supporting breastfeeding and breastmilk, has taken the approach of recommending to temporarily separate infants from infected mothers in the hospital [27, 28]. The WHO does not recommend separation of infants from their mothers, rather they recommend skin to skin, rooming in and encourage exclusive breastfeeding [29]. All recommend that mothers who room-in or breastfeed should follow strict hand washing and use of masks. All also recommend that the expressed breastmilk of these mothers to be fed to their infants.