How to treat cold sore while breastfeeding

Feeding hand-expressed or pumped breast milk

It is not safe for a mother to give her infant hand-expressed or pumped breast milk from an affected breast if she has active herpes lesions on her breast.

Breast milk can be contaminated if it comes in contact with active herpes lesions by touching the breast during hand expression or via the pump.

Expressing breast milk will be important for maintaining milk production while not breastfeeding from the affected breast.

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Mothers with herpes lesions should discard expressed breast milk from the affected breast until the lesions have healed. Mothers should be vigilant about practicing appropriate hand hygiene and cleaning the pump parts thoroughly.

Mothers should talk with their health care provider to determine if their lesions have healed and if they can resume breastfeeding or feeding expressed milk from the affected breast.