Are there reasons a healthy mother should NOT breastfeed her healthy baby?
Answer Dear J, I don’t know of any reason why a healthy mother should not breastfeed her healthy baby. As I wrote in my book (see below), there are a few situations when breastfeeding may be either inadvisable or impossible. Here’s the excerpt from my book: “WHEN BREASTFEEDING MAY NOT BE AN OPTION * When the mother has had surgery or trauma to the breasts that has severed the ducts. (In some cases the ducts have been known to reconnect, however, and therefore some women give nursing a try while closely monitoring their babies’ weight and hydration status.) * When the mother is so ill that she can’t be with her baby and is too sick to pump her breasts. * When the mother is infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that can be passed to the baby through breast milk. HIV has been linked to the disease known as AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). Although some research suggests that the risk of a child’s contracting at least one type of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) b
