Following fears that the Coronavirus may be transmitted from lactating mothers to their babies, The World Health Organization (WHO) has come out to announce that, there is no evidence that COVID-19, can be transmitted from a positive mother to her child while breastfeeding.
The WHO made this known in a statement on its website yesterday. The organisation noted that while researchers are testing breast milk from mothers with a confirmed or suspected case of the virus, it is safer to breastfeed than to give infants formula milk. The body advised lactating mothers to continue breastfeeding their babies in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, currently ravaging the world.
WHO stated that “Active COVID-19 virus has not, to date, been detected in the breastmilk of any mother with confirmed or suspected COVID-19. It appears unlikely, therefore, that COVID-19 would be transmitted through breastfeeding or by giving breastmilk that has been expressed by a mother who is confirmed or suspected to have COVID-19.”
The statement further read that women with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 can therefore, breastfeed if they wished to do so.
