Ellen, you might find some answers in the archives but I will relate to you a case I had a few years ago. The mother was a primip who was diagnosis with thyroid cancer in her second trimester. She had the thyroid removed and went on replacement therapy. (Replacement therapy should be equal to normal hormone levels. If they are not they need to be adjusted.) This mom had wanted to breastfeed for at least a year and was very disappointed that she might have to wean as early as 3 months for radioactive iodine treatments. I worked with the Endocrinologist who was caring for this mother and we discussed her goals and what was best for her and the baby. He agreed to hold off the I-131 for as long as possible postpartum and he followed her with ultrasound. She went on to breastfeed beautifully and pumped to store up as much of her milk as she could for the time she would have to wean. I had talked to Tom Hale about whether a mom should pump and discard while on I-131 and try to resume breastfeeding when safe or totally wean. His recommendation was to totally wean since the I-131 is also attracted to lactating tissue and could possibly be a risk in the future for breast cancer. He also recommended meds to help to speed up the involution of the breast once a mother needs to wean. The mom I worked with ended up going 9 months breastfeeding her little guy and stored up enough extra milk to make it another couple of months. (Just shy of her 1 year goal.) She had her I-131 treatment which is difficult because she cannot be near her baby for a while, cannot remember how long. Hope that helps. Ann Perry, RN IBCLC Boston, MA *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html