Breast Feeding & AN Surgery

[Sonia in Sydney]

I was diagnosed with a large acoustic neuroma just before Christmas and my OP is scheduled for the 27th January. I have an 11 week old baby boy who i am currently breast feeding and i would like to continue to do so after the operation. I am currently expressing milk and will supplement with formula but there is no way of knowing if i will be capable of expressing/feeding post operation and if my milk will even be there after a few days being out of action. Anyone experienced this dilemma and any advice? I know there will be pain medication and anaesthetic to consider (passing through to my milk) but i don't want to just stop feeding as it could be one of the only things that make me feel normal after this OP is done. I would love any advice. Thanks!

[Kristena]

I would be most concerned with the anesthesia and the follow-up pain medication. The LaLeche League (http://www.llli.org/) has a forum, and someone should be able to answer your questions about how long the medications will stay in your system and when it will be safe to nurse again. Expressing and freezing beforehand is a good idea, and expressing afterward as soon as you are able will help keep your milk flowing (even if you have to dispose of it).

[volleymom]

If you have a good electric pump I think you will just need some help to use it for the first few days.  Feed the baby or pump right before you check in. Have a family member help you pump right after the surgery is done and and every 4 hours.  Throw away the milk for the first day or so.  The small amounts of pain medicine that you will be taking after discharge will be no more than the average cesarean patient takes and we let those babies nurse.  If you pump and/or hand express regularly, the milk supply will be maintained.  If you tell your nurses that you need to pump, they will support you.

[DizzyMamaIL]

I still need to look for your post-op posts, but I am wondering if you were able to keep breastfeeding. My baby is 3 months old and I'm leaning toward the radiosurgery mostly because I think I'll be able to get back to caring for him quicker, including feeding him. Did your milk keep coming? Were you able to pump after surgery? Was it more painful? Any information would be helpful!
Sorry for all the questions. I'm gathering as much information as I can right now.

[DizzyMamaIL]

In case anyone else comes and searches for breast feeding and comes across this post, I will add here that one of the lactation consultants at the hospital where I delivered my son has told me that, since the gamma knife is targeted to a spot in my brain, that continuing to breastfeed shouldn't be an issue. That follows with what I found on the Internet, too. I still don't know for sure what medications I may be prescribed, so that might contraindicated continued breastfeeding, at least for a time.

[NEbluebells]

I realize the original post is old, but I wanted to share my (non-AN) post surgical experience with breastfeeding my daughter about 4 years ago.  About 4 weeks after I delivered my daughter, I had a severe case of cholecystitis (inflamed gallbladder), with sepsis, acute hepatitis from blocked bile duct and resulting pancreatitis.  I underwent 2 surgeries over the course of a couple of days and thank God, everything turned out ok.

However, at the time, my daughter refused to take the bottle from anyone. About 12 hours after my last surgery, I was having lots of problems with side effects from the pain medication anyways, and just refused any further pain medications.  I had to sign paperwork to refuse the drugs.  I used "Hypnobabies" to manage the pain and the oxytocin from nursing.  The nurses couldn't believe it, and actually came from another wing to see my daughter and I!  But it was really all the practice I had preparing for a natural delivery with the Hypnobabies meditation series that got me through it.

Honestly, I never felt better during my recovery than when I was nursing, although it was difficult to position my 4 week old in the hospital bed with the IV in my hand/abdominal pain and I remember having a hard time getting her back in her crib. I did pump and dump for about 12 hours after the surgery to get the anesthesia out of my system, and spoke with both my midwife (who came to the hospital) and the lactation consultant.  They agreed it was best for both of us to just keep nursing.  However my surgeries only ranged between 2-4.5 hours, so substantially less than AN surgery, so that probably makes a difference on how long you are under/how much anesthesia you have in your body.

Anyways, 2.5 years later I finally got her weaned Now she is four and I'm dealing with my newly diagnosed AN. My heart goes out to any new mom that has to deal with an AN or any other major surgery. Hopefully this helps, I wanted to reply because I didn't know how many responses you would get from AN-specific surgery.  I'm now looking for a more general surgery guided hypnosis course, to help prepare with pain management for my upcoming AN surgery.

[DizzyMamaIL]

Thanks for responding! Feeding my son right now. Had my second FSRT about 14 hours ago. That is an amazing story.

[Trinityfilled]

I realize that this is a super old thread, but I'm in the same boat, have an EBF 5 month old. Just wondering how it turned out for you? Did you just wean baby? Any info would be helpful, thanks
-Aimee

[DizzyMamaIL]

I completed 28 sessions of IMRT and continued breastfeeding throughout the whole treatment. The treatment hasn't seemed to affect my ability to feed my son (he'll be 6 months old in a couple weeks). I have had to take Tylenol for headaches, but that's been the worst of it so far. I will have to go back to work soon and that will probably have a bigger negative effect.