Hi Everybody:
   I have been asked, by the lay counselor caring for this mother, about
radiation and its impact on human milk. The situation is this: the mother,
pregnant with her second, had the baby induced at 28 weeks so she could begin
radiation therapy for a cancer growing in her sinus. The cancer was found in
January; the mother had surgery to remove the tumor in February, and they
waited until the  28 th week of pregnancy to induce so that the mother could
start treatment. The doctors are telling the mother that she can not give her
pumped milk to her baby since beginning radiation therapy. The mother is
extremely upset by this, as she nursed her first child, and wants to nurse
this second baby.
    I advised to have the mother ask her doctors for specific references
saying that her milk would be hazardous or diminished in any way after
radiation therapy. I also reminded the counselor that the doctors can only
recommend. (Thanks Dr. Jack for this oft-repeated phrase!) I also said I would
ask the wise ones on LACTNET for other recommendations.
    It doesn't make any sense to me, as if this mother was radioactive, or her
milk was radioactive, she wouldn't be able to go home to her husband and two-
year-old. Receiving radiation therapy is a totally different situation to
receiving a radioactive isotope. It sounds like the doctors are just making
stuff up and using their power to pass it off as fact; which has had the
effect of making the husband convinced that she shouldn't breastfeed.
     Waiting eagerly to hear from you, and thanks in advance. Warmly, Nikki