The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding as the optimal form of infant nutrition. Breastfeeding is not a contraindication for antiviral drugs that treat flu. While most healthy adults recover from flu without drugs, breastfeeding women should contact their healthcare provider for advice because infants and pregnant women and those up to two weeks post-partum present an increased risk for complications of flu.
Oseltamivir
According to the Food and Drug Administration, FDA, oseltamivir treats women already sick with the flu and prevents it in asymptomatic women with suspected exposure to the flu. For the former, oseltamivir is taken twice daily for five days; for the latter, oseltamivir is taken once daily for at least ten days and sometimes up to six weeks. The most common side effect of oseltamivir is upset stomach, which patients can reduce by taking the medication with food.
Zanamivir
According to the FDA, zanamivir is dispensed as a powder that users inhale through the mouth using an included plastic device called a "diskhaler." Women who have not used zanamivir in the past should ask their healthcare pharmacist for instruction on how to use the device. Like oseltamivir, zanamivir can treat or prevent flu in breastfeeding women. Patients should take zanamivir every 12 hours for five days for the treatment of flu and once a day for at least ten days and sometime up to two weeks for the prevention of flu. Zanamivir can cause wheezing and women with asthma or heart problems should not be take it.
Rest
Rest proves an important part of recovery from the flu. Ideally, breastfeeding women should have help while they are sick. For women who have help, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend expressing milk and allowing someone else to feed the expressed milk to the baby using a bottle. For women who do not have help, the CDC recommends wearing a mask or holding a cloth blanket over the mouth and nose to protect the baby from respiratory secretions. The influenza virus does not become secreted in breast milk, however women should wash their hands with soap and water prior to handling their infant or breast pumps and after touching the mouth, nose or eyes. Mothers taking antiviral drugs for flu do not need to discard their milk, because it proves beneficial to continue breastfeeding because it provides important antibodies to the child.
References
- American Academy of Pediatrics: Should I Breastfeed or Bottle Feed?
- MedlinePlus: Oseltamivir
- MedlinePlus: Zanamivir inhalation
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : Updated Interim Recommendations for Obstetric Health Care Providers Related to Use of Antiviral Medications in the Treatment and Prevention of Influenza for the 2009-2010 Season
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : 2009 H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu) and Feeding your Baby: What Parents Should Know
