Question

I am a breastfeeding mother and i want to know if it is safe to use Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine? Is Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine safe for nursing mother and child? Does Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine extracts into breast milk? Does Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine has any long term or short term side effects on infants? Can Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine influence milk supply or can Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine decrease milk supply in lactating mothers?

Answer by DrLact: About Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine usage in lactation

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several health professional organizations state that vaccines given to a nursing mother do not affect the safety of breastfeeding for mothers or infants and that breastfeeding is not a contraindication to MMR vaccine. Breastfed infants should be vaccinated according to the routine recommended schedules. Although rubella vaccine virus might be excreted into milk, the virus usually does not infect the infant. If an infection does occur, it is well tolerated because the viruses are attenuated.[1][2][3] No clear evidence exists of live attenuated measles or mumps vaccine virus excretion into breastmilk.[4]

Measles-Mumps-Rubella Vaccine Side Effects in Breastfeeding

Limited data indicate that breastfeeding can enhance the response of the infant to certain vaccine antigens.[2][3][11] One 12-day-old breastfed infant developed a rubella infection 11 days after maternal vaccination with live rubella vaccine.[12] However, it is questionable if maternal vaccination was the cause of the infant's infection.[13] Another breastfed infant had live rubella vaccine virus isolated from a throat swab after maternal immunization. The infant did not demonstrate seroconversion or adverse reactions.[6] Some breastfed infants acquire passive immunity to rubella after maternal vaccination as do infants of mothers with natural rubella immunity. However, neither group of infants had a decreased response to rubella vaccine administered to the infant at 15 to 18 months of age.[7] After immunization of their mothers with rubella vaccine, 25% of breastfed infants in one study showed transient seroconversion to rubella virus but without any clinical disease.[8] In a prospective study of mothers given MR vaccine (Schwarz FF-8 strain/TO-336 strain; Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Osaka, Japan) at their 1-month postnatal checkup, measles virus RNA was isolated from the breastmilk of 2 vaccinated mothers. Neither of their breastfed infants had any clinical disease.[10]
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