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Hi there,
My newborn is coughing and is stuffy and congested (most likely contracted from big sister), in other words I think she has a cold.
Is there anything I can eat/drink to help with my newborns cold? Something that would go through my breastmilk and help fight the cold?
Thanks so much in advance for your help!
No, there's nothing you can eat/drink that would help your newborn. The best thing you can do is simply to nurse- you're almost surely producing antibodies to whatever the baby has, and those will come through in the milk.
Do you have a humidifier? That's usually the best thing for a congested baby.
I was hoping something like garlic would help... but ok... I will look into humidifiers... thanks!
For congestion, you can try putting tiny drops of expressed breastmilk in the nostrils. Baby's, not yours. As mommal says, your milk & the comfort of nursing is already giving baby the best medicine.
Does breastmilk also prevent colds or does it work just as medecine? I'm curious because I've nursed like crazy and did not expect baby to catch a cold... :(
Quote:
Originally Posted by @llli*lllmeg
No it doesn't prevent a cold. But if YOU have the cold than the baby is getting your antibodies to it as you are feed baby.
:ita Sometimes we have to think about how we are putting things, and I include myself in this caution as I do this by mistake all the time. Saying breastfeeding prevents this that or the other is not really accurate.
Breastfeeding does not prevent anything. Breastfeeding is the biologically normal way to feed babies and it is how most people for most of history were fed as infants and young children, and of course colds and other illnesses have always exisited. "Catching" colds is normal, and particularly common if a baby has an older sibling(s) who is more out and about with other kids.
What studies show is that formula feeding causes (or, if you prefer, increases the risk of) abnormal or "sub-optimal' outcomes healthwise, compared to breastfeeding. here is a very long article detailing what studies have found. http://evergreenperinataleducation.c...ng_Nov2013.pdf
Interesting article! Thanks! I was breastfed for 1 year and had chronic ear infections (still do), to the point where I needed surgery so I definitely believe you when you say it doesn't prevent anything (my mostly formula fed sister has never had an ear infection) but according to that article, I must be a rare case! :lol