Is breastfeeding really safe with breast cancer? Read to know

Breast milk is the best source of nutrition for babies. Many medical experts, including the World Health Organisation, recommend breastfeeding exclusively (no formula, juice or water) for at least 6 months and continue babies be breastfed for up to two years or more. Besides providing infants with all the nutrients they need for healthy development, breast milk contains antibodies that help protect babies from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea and pneumonia, the two primary causes of child mortality worldwide.

Breastfeeding has many benefits for both the mother and the baby. Breastfeeding a baby for longer is linked to increased intelligence, longer schooling and higher earnings in adulthood – whatever the parents’ social class. For the mother, breastfeeding can burns extra calories, helping you to lose pregnancy weight faster. Breastfeeding also lowers the risk of breast and ovarian cancer in women. It may lower their risk of osteoporosis. But, what if you’ve just been diagnosed with breast cancer or through breast cancer treatment? Will I still be able to breastfeed?, will it be safe and healthy to breastfeed for me and your baby? These are some of the possible questions that might concern you and your family.

Perhaps, the answers can be complicated. And breastfeeding after surgery and radiation therapy may be challenging, but health experts said that it should not be discouraged. According to Dr Ameet Dhurandhar DGO, MD specialist in gentle, natural and waterbirths, Surya Hospitals, mothers undergoing Chemotherapy cannot breastfeed as therapies used during breast cancer treatment may be passed to the baby through breast milk.

“Moreover, breastfeeding post mastectomy and radiation therapy may be challenging as these treatments may decrease milk supply to the affected breast, but the opposite breast should still be able to produce milk. Breastfeeding is a must, breast cancer should not be a reason to stop breastfeeding. It is however highly recommended that mothers must seek medical advice before starting breastfeeding in such a condition to avoid any kind of further complications,” he added.

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