breast feeding and isolation if maternal chickenpox
Last reviewed 05/2022
- a mother with chickenpox should not be isolated from her baby and can be encouraged to breast-feed
- the mother and baby should be isolated from other mothers and babies on the ward
- if the mother has chickenpox lesions close to the nipple, milk should be expressed until the lesions have crusted
- if the neonate is protected from infection by varicella zoster immune globulin and/or aciclovir, then the neonate can drink the expressed milk
Reference:
- Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin 2005; 43(9): 69-72.