When my son needed surgery for his tear duct I received the same information
about nothing by mouth for 8 hours. My son was almost two and a very frequent
nursing person. I can't quote the sources ,but it was in an Journal for
Anesthesiologists, mentioned that 2-3 hours with breast milk was sufficent.
 I got the source from LLLI.  One thing that  was very helpful was making it
clear that I wanted to be with him during induction and as soon as he woke
up.  I can say that it was tramatic for me but a true non issue for him.
Ruth Solomon