Performing Elective Surgery on the Breastfeeding Patient: A Review of the Literature

The prevalence of breastfeeding among women in the United States is increasing along with the understanding of the importance of continually and exclusively breastfeeding an infant in the first half year of life. Modern necessities and problems evoke questions about what medications can be safely utilized by a breastfeeding mother and which procedures she may safely undergo. Planning elective surgery for a patient who is breastfeeding is a challenge because of insufficient studies regarding medication safety, apprehension among patients, and inadequate information from care providers. Nonetheless, information on the pharmacokinetics of drugs in the maternal system, the possible adverse effects to the infant, and how to minimize drug exposure to the infant is easily accessible to both patients and their surgeons. Positively informed providers and breastfeeding mothers who elect to undergo surgery, willing to take the proper steps and precautions, ensure healthy outcomes postoperatively.