Studies offer reassuring data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccination for breastfeeding women

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Sep 9 2021

COVID-19 vaccination results in minimal disruption of lactation. Vaccination also has no adverse impact on the breastfed child, according to two studies published in the peer-reviewed journal Breastfeeding Medicine.

Skyler McLaurin-Jiang, MD, MPH, and coauthors from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine, surveyed 4,455 breastfeeding mothers who underwent COVIC-19 vaccination. They reported that 1.7% of respondents reported a negative impact on breastfeeding post-vaccination. Those mothers were more likely to have experienced symptoms associated with the vaccine. "Even among mothers who reported an adverse impact on breastfeeding, maternal opinion about vaccination and confidence in their decision to receive the COVID-19 vaccine were high," said the authors.

Kerri Bertrand, MPH, and coauthors from the University of California San Diego, enrolled 180 women in the Mommy's Milk Human Milk Research Biorepository. Few events were reported for children following maternal vaccination with either the first or second dose of vaccine. The most common child events following dose two were irritability, poor sleep, and drowsiness. "These data are reassuring regarding the safety of vaccination in breastfeeding women and their breastfed children with either of the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines," said the authors in their article.

These studies reinforce the conclusion that breastfeedingmothers should be vaccinated while continuing to nurse their infants without concern."

Arthur I. Eidelman, MD, Editor-in-Chief, Breastfeeding Medicine.