Possibility Of Breastfeeding After Cancer In 2023?

The World Breastfeeding Week, observed in the first week of August every year, celebrates the beauty of breastfeeding. It is the time when awareness is raised on everything related to breastfeeding process, which is important for a baby and mother’s health. If you are a mother-to-be or a new mother who has gone through breast cancer, it is natural to worry about breastfeeding your baby. Your worries are not unfounded, as breast cancer cells start right inside the milk ducts and/or the milk-producing lobules of a woman’s breast, according to World Health Organization. So, does that mean breastfeeding after breast cancer is not possible?

Breastfeeding and chemotherapy

Breastfeeding and chemotherapy can’t go hand in hand. Breastfeeding is not allowed during chemotherapy because the medicines might pass on to the baby and cause side effects such as growth stunting, decreased immunity and infections, says the expert. There are times when women get diagnosed with breast cancer during pregnancy. Pregnancy associated breast cancer is breast cancer that develops during or one year after pregnancy. Since there are various issues about safety of treatment, the unborn child, timing and sequencing of therapy, it needs a coordinated effort between surgeons, radiation oncologists and the obstetrician looking after the pregnancy.