A couple of weeks ago I posted a request asking for information for a
pregnent woman who has  ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) and was
advised to not breastfeed.

Thanks to those who replied. Most of the replies I got were along the
line of "the onus is on the doctor who said that the women should't
breastfeed to explain why". Obvious, of course - sorry.

Just to keep you infomed of what's happening - the doctor's response was
that because the form of ITP (ie genetic) she suffers from is so rare and
there is not that much experience with it at the time of delivery and
post-natally, it was not so much the that her breastfeeding could affect
her ITP but that the breastfeeding would make it more difficult for him
to treat her (and her ITP) postnatally.

My initial reaction to this was fairly sceptical. However, the thought
did occur to me that he will be dealing with a dangerous and potentially
fatal condition, and perhaps her breastfeeing would add just another
"complication" that he feels he could do without. It's a pity though, if
that was the case, that he didn't rather explaiin that to her, rather
that try and put her off breastfeeding with some half-hearted excuse.

Any comments?

Thanks
Janet Malone
Sunny (mostly) South Africa