Lactnetters,
  Mom of 6, including a 3 mo has had what she now knows to be gallbladder
symptoms for the last few years.  Diagnosis was made during her 6th month of
pregnancy (June 97), and she was told to watch her diet, avoid over-eating
and fatty foods to keep down symptoms, and so avoid emergency surgery during
pregnancy.  She knows there is a large stone which could block the duct, but
had no obvious symptoms since this baby was born.
  In last few days mom was having waves of nausea, backache, chilling, some
diarrhea.  Since everyone else in the family was suffering from a flu bug,
mom assumed her symptoms were flu, as well.  However, this morning at
church, a couple of people remarked that her eyes and neck appeared yellow
and that has her thinking that some of her symptoms are gallbladder-related.
  Her main concern is this:  10 years ago, her sister had a gallbladder
attack followed by surgery.  The doctor told her sister to stop bf because
continuing to do so with gallbladder problems "would poison her baby".  I
have never heard of such a thing, and none of my resources address this.
The mom is still bf, and does not want to stop, but when she mentioned her
sister's experience to her doctor, he seemed unsure about what she should
do.  She's bf until somebody tells her otherwise.
  I know several women who have bf through gallbladder problems, so I'm
embarrassed to ask these questions because they smack of old wives' tales
and mythology.  Anyway, here goes...Would there be bilirubin in her milk?
If so, is that likely to be a problem?  Where does the idea of "poison" come
from?
TIA,
Sara Reuning in Bristol, TN