Speaking from personal experience- it is possible for baby to transmit
herpes to the areola and it is the most excrutiatingly painful thing you can
imagine- worse for me than shingles across the areola or cocksackies virus
or poison ivy on the areola. I was forced to wean because my son couldn't
take anything by mouth not even a drop of water, but certainly not a breast.
We eventually had to re-hydrate him in the hospital with IVs. He had sores
all in him mouth and throat- my husband and older children often have "cold
sores".  We also used a mouth paint of kaopectate(?!?!) and tylenol which
helped him tolerate little drips of water. Cathy Liles