From: womanht
Date: 22 May 2001
Time: 14:52:45
Remote Name: sbproxy1.mystarhub.com.sg
When by baby was 3 months old, I contracted chicken pox. Immediately, under the doctor's advice, I was separated from my baby. The doctor felt separation will protect the baby from chicken pox. He told me to give up breast feeding as it would be nearly impossible to produce breast milk for my baby after the 2 weeks of quarantine.
I wasn't too happy about that, but I complied.
I called the hospital to talk to a breast feeding consultant. She told me that where she came from, women continued to breastfeed even if they have chicken pox. Chicken pox is from a virus. They do not stop breast feeding when they have the flu, so they do not stop either when they have chicken pox. Also, chicken pox is most contagious before the blisters appear, so the baby would already have been exposed to it. On top of that, breast milk contains anti bodies that would protect against the virus. But as the doctor recommended separation, I complied.
For 2 weeks, I continued to express my milk every 3 hours. Stopping only to sleep. It was heart breaking as I missed my baby so much. There were reminders of him everywhere. After 13 days, My baby came down with chicken pox too. Separation did not help. He was brought back to me and I tried breast feeding him. He refused my breast and only took the bottle, so I expressed my milk for him. He could not remember me initially but after a day, he suddenly remembered and started waving his arms and legs happily at me. Then, he accepted milk directly from my breast. Pumping out the milk is really tiring. I rather let him feed directly and do the work himself.
Baby recovered after 2 weeks. It was quite heart breaking seeing him suffer from a fever all through the first week. Finally, after 2 weeks, he was completely recovered. I continued breast feeding him until he was 13 months old. (I stopped as I was pregnant and advised by my gynae to save my nutrients for the baby inside me).
[bf/_borders/bfexperience_aftr.htm]