Addisu Dabi Wake
The WHO has declared the outbreak of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The swift worldwide spread of COVID-19 has caused in a global pandemic. The proportion of COVID-19 infected breastfeeding women is increasing worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has stressed the entire community, predominantly breastfeeding women, and the whole health professionals. The breastfeeding women highly affected during this pandemic because of they are also tensioned for their neonates. To overcome this hostile pandemic, the global healthcare service should be updated and modified accordingly. There is a growing requirement for evidence regarding maternal and neonatal consequences during this pandemic. Therefore, the present review article is aimed to investigate the available evidence on breastfeeding in confirmed cases of COVID-19 women to support a practically reasonable approach in handling these critical conditions. It has addressed the key points for all healthcare providers, stakeholders, health policy makers and implementers, and breastfeeding populations as the whole. The present review found that the possibility of COVID-19 virus detection in breast/ human milk is currently a big controversial topic globally. This is due to that there is a discrepancy of evidences found worldwide. Some of the studies reported as the were no detection of COVID-19 virus within the breast/human milk while the other studies reported that as there was the detection of COVID-19 virus within the breast/human milk. However, there is no concrete evidence for the detection of COVID-19 virus within the breast/human milk. So, due to the inadequate clinical evidences, all healthcare providers should constantly update themselves and be alert about the transmissions of COVID-19 through breast milk.
