I have seen perhaps 50 mothers with breast abscess over the past 5 years. If
I remember correctly, one or two had already quit, and another 1 or 2 quit
when they heard they had an abscess.  All the others were encouraged to
continue breastfeeding, even on the affected side, and did continue.  With
no problems for the mother and baby.

It is interesting that the surgeon nixed breastfeeding even on the
unaffected side. I found out that surgeons believe that if you continue on
one side it will stimulate the milk supply on the other.  So here we have a
surgeon whose premise is incorrect (that continuing breastfeeding on the
affected side will cause the mother's health damage), and whose physiology
is also incorrect (he doesn't know that breastfeeding on the unaffected side
will not cause stimulation of milk production on the other).

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC