Covid-19: Breastfeeding can protect your baby from the virus

Dubai - Breastfeeding also increases immunity of the mother as she feeds the baby, doctor says.

Did you know that breast milk produces antibodies which protects the baby from getting any kind of infection, including various viruses. As the Word Breastfeeding Week (WBW) concludes on August 7, practitioners and health authorities create awareness and reiterate about the forgotten benefits of breast feeding in the least incurred cost.

Even with the Covid pandemic around, the authorities concluded that women must continue breastfeeding their children even if they are infected with Covid-19.

Ayesha Abrar, a certified breastfeeding counsellor by the Sharjah Supreme Council of Family Affairs, says she has met a number of Covid positive women who said they continued to breastfeed their baby albeit with all precautions such as wearing a mask, and their babies remained absolutely clear of the virus.

In fact, Abrar said that not only does breastfeeding protects babies from all sorts of diseases as it is loaded with nutrients, antibodies and enzymes but also increases immunity of the mother as she feeds the baby, since she consciously eats good nutrient-based food to feed the child.

Rabbia Khan, specialist general surgeon at Mediclinic City Hospital, said that although doctors cannot say with surety if a pregnant woman with Covif-19 can pass the virus to her fetus or baby during pregnancy or delivery, however, she added that active virus has not been found in samples of fluid around the baby in the womb or breastmilk.

“The WHO recommends that mothers with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 should be encouraged to initiate or continue to breastfeed. Mothers should be counselled that the benefits of breastfeeding substantially outweigh the potential risks for transmission. Protective antibodies have been detected in breastmilk of mothers with previous Covid-19 infection along with multiple bioactive components have been identified in breastmilk that not only protect against infections but improve neurocognitive and immunologic development of the child,” Dr Khan said.

Dr Khan advised that since the pandemic, more mothers are working from home, therefore, they get more time to spend with their child, this she said they must use to breast feed the child.