Are you wondering whether you should start or
continue breastfeeding because you are on medication, have an infection, are undergoing
x-rays or some other reason? The fact is that for the vast majority of these
situations you can and should continue to breastfeed your baby.
Of course, there are certain situations where it is best to discontinue breastfeeding.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has listed the few situations where suspending
breastfeeding is necessary in their policy statement "Breastfeeding and the Use of Human Milk".
The few situations noted by the AAP include when the infant has galactosemia, the mother
uses illegal drugs and the mother has untreated active tuberculosis. Most prescribed
and over-the-counter medications are safe for the breastfed infant. Use of a few
strong medicines such as radioactive isotopes, antimetabolites, cancer chemotherapy and
agents and a few others may require the mother to interrupt breastfeeding temporarily.
A number of books and tables describe which drugs are safe and which are not are
available, including "the transfer of drugs and other chemicals into human
milk", in Pediatrics 1994, by the AAP Committee on Drugs.
The AAP recommends suspending breastfeeding for women in the United States who are
infected with HIV. However, they state that for many other countries that are at
increased risk for infectious diseases and nutritional deficiencies, the great benefits of
breastfeeding may outweigh the risk of the infant acquiring HIV. This statement
gives us an indication of how strongly the AAP supports the benefits of breastfeeding.
Following is an excellent article on when you should and shouldn't breastfeed by one of
the worlds experts on breastfeeding, Dr. Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC.
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 About the
Author
JACK NEWMAN
graduated from the University of Toronto medical school as a pediatrician in 1970. He
started the first hospital-based breastfeeding clinic in Canada in 1984 at Toronto's
Hospital for Sick Children. He has been a consultant with UNICEF for the Baby Friendly
Hospital Initiative in Africa, and has published articles on the subject of breastfeeding
in Scientific American and several medical journals. Dr. Newman has practiced as a
physician in Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa.
If you would like to contact Dr. Newman, you can mail him at: newman@globalserve.net
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