Allowing breastfeeding 4 hours before surgery is quite a liberal
policy, and I doubt if any anaesthetists would go any closer than
that.  The Hospital for Sick Children did some research and they are
convinced (shame) that 6 hours is necessary.

However, we need to accomodate breastfeeding.  It is often much easier
to schedule surgery during the early afternoon.  Thus, if the surgery
is at 1:00 pm, the baby can nurse until 9:00 am, and it is a lot
easier to distract him during the day than during the night.  This has
worked well for a lot of our babies.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC