Hey All!
Thanks for coming back. I received my second dose of the Moderna vaccine and it was a doozy. This post is about my experience and what it was like breastfeeding/taking care of my six-month old.
March 7th, 2021
I received my second dose of the vaccine at around 9:15 am. The same drill as before, my temperature was scanned (97.3), and I filled out a health questionnaire (feeling ill, pregnant or breastfeeding, etc.). The doctor told me that I would probably experience more severe side effects with this shot. My mom did not have any symptoms, so I was hoping I wouldn’t either… I was not so lucky.
I was given the vaccine in my left arm again. I didn’t feel the shot at all and didn’t experience any symptoms until around 10:30 pm. Around that time, I started to experience chills and could not get warm again. I was under blankets, a comforter, long pants, and a shirt, but I was still freezing. The chills stopped around 1:30 am, and I got a fever of 100.9. I started sweating a little bit but was able to fall asleep still. I woke up around 3:30 pm, drenched in sweat. I don’t think I’ve ever woken up so sweaty in my life. I did end up taking Tylenol to bring my fever down at that point.
Again, I breastfed my baby as normal. Even though I had a fever, I reminded myself that I could not get the baby sick from the vaccine. If you get mastitis, you might experience fever and still breastfeed in that case as well. Some experts say breastfeeding while you are experiencing symptoms may be beneficial to your baby. “The presence of SARS-CoV-2-reactive antibodies in human milk could provide passive immunization to the breastfed infants.” [2]
I still felt full when going to feed my baby, and she seemed to be getting a sufficient amount of milk. After the first and second shots, I did not see any deterioration of my baby’s health. She is eating, drinking, and sleeping as usual. She was seen for her six-month visit and received her normal immunizations. The pediatrician was happy I received the vaccine.
March 8th, 2021
The next day felt like I had a moderate hangover. I was pretty tired but functional. The first thing I did was take a shower from sweating all night.
TIP: Maybe put a towel down where you are going to sleep. Gross, I know.
I went about my day as usual but took Tylenol twice because of headaches. I think the headaches were probably a mix of side effects/dehydration from sweating so much. Sweating + breastfeeding + daily water intake requires A LOT of water. I think if I were to do it all again, I would drink two gallons of water before my second shot.
Side Notes
If you or your significant other are getting the shot and have a little one at home I would definitely suggest you make arrangements for care by your spouse or a babysitter. If I were alone it would have been very difficult to care for her and feel sick as I did. Although sometimes this can’t be avoided, in this particular case you know that sick feeling is coming. I would also suggest you take the day after the shot off of work.
The shot has been affect people differently. In my case, I only had bad symptoms for around 12 hours. Other friends who had the shot were sick for one or two full days after the shot.
Thank you for reading, and I hope it was helpful! Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below.
Sources
1. https://www.healthline.com/health/is-it-safe-to-breastfeed-while-sick-3-experts-weigh-in#coronavirus
2. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41372-020-00805-w
theLenLen 