As a nurse in an endocrine practice, I will be watching this thread with interest!

I currently have a mama in the endocrine practice who is in a similar situation. My first question was about timeframe of the ablation dose. Turns out, this mama can safely nurse to at least a year before weaning. This is per the endocrinologist and the nuclear medicine specialist. It is a slow growing cancer even if some cells were missed during the thyroidectomy. So it could be worth asking about that.

It is also my understanding that weaning does need to be several (6-8?) weeks before the treatment. Maybe she can use all those things we advise against during nursing, like peppermint and Sudafed etc.?

Cheers,
Michelle Adelewitz, RN, LLLL

On Jun 8, 2013, at 11:04 AM, Laura Spitzfaden <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I have permission to post.
> 
> A pregnant mom has thyroid cancer and is going to have her thyroid removed after the birth.  She intends to breastfeed but has been told that she needs to wean several weeks before receiving a treatment with radioactive iodine.  She will not be using it for a scan but for therapy to be sure the cancer is gone.  The concern is that the RI concentrates in breastmilk and could harm mom, so just pumping and dumping is not advised.
> 
> Does anyone have any experience with this?  Does she really need to dry up before taking the RI or is it possible to breastfeed up until the treatment?
> 
> If she has to dry up before the treatment, it seems like that could take quite a while.  Most moms continue to make milk for quite some time after weaning.  Any advice?
> 
> Laura Spitzfaden, LLLL, IBCLC
> 
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