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Are there women who should not breastfeed?
Yes. There are cases in which a mother should be advised not to breastfeed
her baby:
- Women who are infected with HIV in the United States
and the developed world are counseled not to breastfeed
because it increases the risk of transmission of HIV to the infant
(see Maternal Infections).
- Women using illicit drugs should not breastfeed
(see breast milk and drugs).
- Infants with certain metabolic diseases,
such as galactosemia, should not be breast fed.
- Infants with cleft palate may have great difficulty nursing
at the breast and need to be monitored closely.
Some of these infants can nurse successfully.
Expressed breast milk can be fed to many others.
- Infants with only a cleft lip can breast feed well.
- Women on certain medications should not breast feed
(see breast milk and drugs).
- With the use of Hepatitis B vaccine in the infant,
women who are positive for Hepatitis B can
breastfeed.
- Women who have had previous breast surgery might have problems
with milk production.
This depends on the type of surgery performed.
The mother can certainly breastfeed with monitoring
of infant growth.
-
Women with infectious tuberculosis (sputum positive) should not be
in contact with their infants. They may pump their breasts and feed
expressed breast milk to their infants. When they are sputum negative
they may nurse their baby (
Lawrence, 1999-2
).
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