After reading all the chemist posts, I'd like to address one thing that
hasn't come up - that "contaminated feeling" that comes from working in an
area that would be hazardous to an infant, even though Mom working there
won't affect the breastmilk.

When my daughter was only a few months old I started medical school and one
of the first courses in the curriculum was anatomy. For those of you
unfamiliar with medical school anatomy lab, let me tell you it involved
several hours each day working in a large closed room with table after table
of cadavers [bodies of people that had donated their body to medical
science]. Despite the ventilation system, the smell of formalin or
formaldehyde permeated everything.  I used to double gown and double glove,
but it still took 3 washings, a complete change of clothes and an hour drive
before I felt comfortable going anywhere near the baby, much less nursing
her. I still get that awful feeling just writing about it and it's been
seven years!

My advice to Mom is to set up some "routine" that works for her, two
washings, a change of clothes - whatever, and use that as a way of feeling
better about working in that environment and nursing her baby.

Gail S. Hertz, MD, IBCLC
York, Pennsylvania, USA

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