Surgery is safe with breastfeeding, and patients do not need to pump discard breastmilk after undergoing anesthesia. When the patient is awake, this means that the anesthesia drugs have metabolized out of the blood system as well as the breastmilk.
Patients should speak with their surgeons and anesthesiologists prior to undergoing any surgery. In 2018, a group at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center published an excellent perioperative lactation support plan that nicely complements the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine’s peripartum Analgesia and Anesthesia Protocol. Patients should discuss questions with their perioperative team, including total time they will be separated from their breastfeeding children (operative time as well as recovery room and/or ICU stay); plan for expression of milk in the recovery room if breastfeeding is not possible; and, positioning on the operating room table to avoid unnecessary restriction/compression of lactating breasts.
I am part of an Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine group that published a protocol on Supporting Breastfeeding During Maternal or Child Hospitalization, which provides comprehensive guidance for hospitals and surgical centers regarding lactation.
