I tried to post in reply to Roseann Woltz recently about hepatitis C, but
had trouble because my address had been changed without my knowledge.  Now
that I am back on (I hope), I can send the information I had planned to send
then.

Other people have given good references for the fact that Hep C is not a
reason for with-holding breastfeeding.  There is one more point that I
haven't seen made and that is not in the literature.

 Recently I had an enquiry from an LC who has a mother with hep C and
bleeding cracked nipples.  There is nothing in the literature on this, but
the advice from the expert in hep C at the infectious diseases hospital is
that as the potential for harm in a small baby from hep C is so great, it is
worth being on the safe side and expressing and discarding the milk (pumping
& dumping for you Americans!) for the time it takes the cracks to heal.

Obviously prevention with particular care to avoiding getting cracked
nipples is extra important.

Philippa Thomson
Melbourne, Australia