If we had not seen it with our own eyes, we would not have believed it!
23-year-old Anna, the mother of little Michaela, contracted COVID-19 in January. The infection mowed down the whole family: herself, baby daughter, mother, husband. Everyone lost their sense of smell and taste, and Michaela, in addition, had a fever and a severe cough. Fortunately, the baby’s most alarming symptoms of coronavirus disappeared after a few days, and she was on the mend. Daughter Anna did not stop breastfeeding – the doctors advised her not to interrupt breastfeeding. And then the oddities began.
“At first I noticed that there was less milk. It looks like dehydration has begun. But the color was normal, – says Anna. “I was feeding my daughter as usual, decanting the excess, and putting the bags in the freezer.”
And then Anna took out a couple of bags from the freezer and found that the milk … turned green.
“It had a kind of neon hue. I was scared, but the doctor assured me that there was nothing wrong with that, the woman continues. “It turns out that the color of the milk changed when my daughter contracted the coronavirus.”
As the condition of the mother and daughter returned to normal, the color of the milk also brightened. It soon turned white as before.
“Our pediatrician at first thought that the color of the milk had changed due to the fact that I began to eat a lot of greens. I do eat a lot of leafy vegetables, but I always eat them. Nothing has changed in my diet, ”Anna shrugs.
But other experts immediately concluded: the mother’s body reacted to her daughter’s illness and began to vigorously produce antibodies, so that there was enough for two at once. That’s why the milk turned green.
By the way, the composition of breast milk can change even during one feeding. The mother’s body reacts to the substances contained in the baby’s saliva, and almost instantly adapts the composition of the milk to his needs. This usually has no effect on the color of the milk. But the COVID-19 virus is so powerful that it has changed even that.
“I talked to other mothers later – they also noticed that when a child gets sick, the milk changes color. And they continued to breastfeed too, ”adds Anna.
Breastfeeding with coronavirus is definitely possible and necessary to continue. It is almost impossible to diagnose a baby by symptoms, because he does not have specific symptoms of coronavirus: the baby is unlikely to tell you that today he does not feel how his mother smells and what the taste of mother’s milk is. Yes, children of this age, as a rule, do not have specific symptoms.
Nevertheless, if the mother has a diagnosed coronavirus, and the child has malaise, for example, the temperature has risen, then, of course, it is possible to assume infection with covid.
As for laboratory diagnostics, all those tests that are used in adults can be used in children of any age.