Breast cancer and breastfeeding
It is known that one of the benefits of breastfeeding is to provide protection to the mother against breast cancer. However, what happens when a woman has already had or has a carcinoma and wants to breastfeed her child? The recommendations about breast cancer and breastfeeding vary if you have had
It is known that one of the benefits of breastfeeding is to provide protection to the mother against breast cancer. However, what happens when a woman has already had or has a carcinoma and wants to breastfeed her child?
The recommendations about breast cancer and breastfeedingvary if you have had cancer in one or both breasts, if you have had it before pregnancy and you are cured, if you are in treatment while breastfeeding, etc. In Guiainfantil.com we clarify if you can breastfeed your baby in each of the cases.
Breastfeeding in women in cancer treatment
The treatments and diagnostic procedures are an absolute contraindication for breastfeeding, as they pass through the milk and affect the baby. If your desire is not to eliminate breastfeeding, you can extract the milk and discard it while the treatment lasts.
Once completed, and always depending on the drug or treatment you can resume breastfeeding once the drug has been metabolized and always leaving a reasonable time, according to the latest international recommendations it is estimated that the safe window period would be 5 elimination half-lives ( but talk better with your oncologist and he will tell you).
Breastfeeding and cured breast cancer
When there is no residual tumor, you can breastfeed tanto, both with the healthy breast and with the treated breast if there has been conservative treatment, that is, when a complete mastectomy has not been performed and there are still glands. Although according to the surgery or radiotherapy used, the latter can produce less milk. But remember that a successful breastfeeding with only one breast is possible.In the case of radiotherapy, it is estimated that around 50% of women get milk in that breast. In the case that both breasts have been irradiated, it is normal that manual or mechanical extraction of milk and supplementation with formula is necessary, that is to say, to opt for a mixed lactation.
The irradiated breast produces less milk
, but it is nutritionally adequate although the infant may reject it because it has more sodium content than the other breast. Breastfeeding after breast cancer does not entail any danger to the mother or to the child, whether it is from the healthy breast or from the one that was affected.Of course it is necessary to evaluate and individualize each case, since as we have seen it will depend on many factors, however every mother who has gone through or is going through breast cancer will need all the adequate and truthful information for her case , professional support and help to achieve successful breastfeeding. Since it is your case, we run a greater risk of frustration,
greater emotional burden, fatigue, doubts and insecurities.
