AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — The effects that a COVID-19 vaccine could have on breast-feeding moms.

That is what the InfantRisk Center at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center is aiming to find out.

“There was a lack of information and we hoped to be able to give it to them,” said Dr. Kaytlin Krutsch, InfantRisk Center at TTUHSC Researcher.

Dr. Krutsch on why they conducted a survey regarding the effects of COVID-19 vaccines on breastfeeding moms.

“We only had this survey up for about six weeks and we had about 6,000 responses. So it was a phenomenal response. That’s not very normal,” said Dr. Krutsch.

Dr. Krutsch said the study revealed that breast-feeding moms had very similar symptoms to the vaccine compared to moms who were not breast-feeding.

“But the big question that moms have are a little bit less clinical and a little bit more practical. So what they wanted to know is, what is it going to do to my baby? If I get this covid vaccine, is there going to be any harm? So what we found out for that question is that about 93% of those moms said that their babies had no side effects, no symptoms at all from their vaccination,” said Dr. Krutsch.

Dr. Krutsch said moms that did reports some sort of symptom, were found to be mild.

“Things like their child was sleepier than normal or a little bit more fussy but really we didn’t find anything that was overly concerning,” said Dr. Krutsch.

With everything new moms are experiencing, Dr. Krutsch said they hope this survey provides them some peace of mind.

“We’re trying to do the best that we can to support them to make the best decisions that they can. It’s hard to do that without any information. So we will give them whatever we’re able,” said Dr. Krutsch.

Dr. Krutsch said they were not able to tell if the reported symptoms were due to the vaccine itself or if the mom was feeling sick because of the vaccine.

So they can’t say what caused those symptoms in the 7% that reported them.

If you would like to see the full results of the survey, click here: https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/bfm.2021.0079