Wait, I didn't say it is okay to breastfeed after having rabies.
Because you cannot breastfeed if your dead, which is the usual thing
that happens after you have rabies (there are rare cases of survival,
apparently).

What I meant is that there should not be any reason for the mother not
to breastfeed if she gets the vaccine and the immune globulin.  And if
the mother does not get ill with rabies, why should the baby?  It seems
highly unlikely that the mother could mount an immune response (with the
vaccine) significant enough to prevent the illness in herself yet pass
on enough virus in her milk to cause illness in the baby.  I don't think
any work has been done, but I doubt that rabies could be passed on
through the milk anyway or that infection could occur through the gi
tract, though I am not sure.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC