What to do if you have a severe cold during breastfeeding

Colds are a very common disease in life, and we are most likely to catch a cold, especially when our body's resistance is low. Colds can happen to anyone. If you catch a cold during breastfeeding, the question arises whether to use medication. Common colds do not require medication, but some pregnant women have severe colds and the situation is a bit serious. So, what should you do if you have a severe cold while breastfeeding? Let’s take a look below.

1. What to do if you catch a cold or fever during breastfeeding

Colds are a common disease. Women who are breastfeeding are prone to sweating, and their resistance is lower than before. Coupled with the busy postpartum period, it is very common for them to catch a cold. Many mothers are afraid to take medicine for fear that it will affect the composition of breast milk and be harmful to the baby, or that they will pass the cold to the baby. So what should you do if you catch a cold while breastfeeding?

If you have a cold and have a high fever from time to time, what mothers need is to drink more water, eat light and easily digestible food, take cold granules, isatis root granules and other medicines. At the same time, it is best to have someone help take care of the child so that you can have more time to sleep and rest. You can still breastfeed the child, but it is best to wear a mask.

2. What medicine to take for cold during breastfeeding

Whether you can take medicine if you catch a cold while breastfeeding is also a problem that mothers need to solve, especially during such an important stage as breastfeeding. The best advice for breastfeeding mothers is not to take medicine blindly. You should use the medicine correctly and effectively under the guidance of a professional doctor to cure the disease as soon as possible. All drugs can be transferred into breast milk to varying degrees. Some drugs have minimal effect on infants, but some drugs, such as hormones and sleeping pills, can have a greater impact on infants. Therefore, the best option for a nursing mother is to see a doctor as soon as possible and decide whether to stop breastfeeding based on the medication and advice prescribed by the doctor.

Mothers who suffer from chronic or serious diseases such as malignant tumors, mental illness, hyperthyroidism, etc. should not breastfeed. However, for safe medications, mothers do not need to interrupt breastfeeding. As long as the peak blood drug concentration is cleverly avoided, many medications can be used safely during breastfeeding. Mothers can take the medicine immediately after breastfeeding and wait at least 4 hours before breastfeeding again.

If you have a cold with a cough, most medications you take will contain antibiotics. But most antibiotics can penetrate into breast milk to some extent, making infants indirect users or victims of the drugs. When using antibiotics during breastfeeding, short-acting drugs with little harm to mother and baby should be selected as much as possible, and single-dose therapy should be used instead of multiple-dose therapy to reduce the accumulation and harm of drugs in the baby's body. If it is necessary to use medications that may be harmful to the baby, you may consider temporarily feeding the baby with formula milk.