Vertical Transmission of COVID-19 Associated with Breast Milk

What is it about?

Breastfeeding provides numerous short- and long-term health benefits for both mother and newborn by protecting the latter against infectious and chronic diseases. However, despite decades of research establishing its importance, the pandemic has uncovered the hidden assumption that breastfeeding is dispensable with no consequences for the mother or child. The objective was to examine evidence of vertical transmission of COVID-19 from mother to child through breastfeeding. An electronic search was carried out for articles related to breastfeeding and COVID-19 in the PUBMED indexing source, from the results in the systematic search, 16 articles were selected that contained research results in accordance with the inclusion criteria, as well as 3 reports containing mixed recommendations on optimal breastfeeding practices. Breast milk is the best food for the infant. However, confidence in their safety and certainty regarding best practices around breastfeeding during maternal COVID-19 infection has been compromised by the lack of studies and representative samples. It is necessary to carry out interdisciplinary research on the subject, at the same time, documents should be created with consensual and standardized guidelines regarding the choices of breast milk feeding from mothers infected by COVID-19 to their babies.

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