Georgette Bartell, RN In responce to you questions regarding General annesthesia and Br F'ing. You did not say what type of surgery this mother was having. I think Dr. Hale will be able to comment more about the types (long acting and short acting annesthesia) that are commonly used. Anectodotally, I was still nursing my children when I had several massive surgeries on my hip (including 2 total hip revisions). In my case I was recieving too many combinations of antibiotics to nurse for the first 48 hours post-op. Massive doses of morphine were also of concern but, surprizingly enough, not as much as the antibiotics. Doctors were also concerned about the amount of milk my babies were recieving. As older babies they would be taking more per feeding than a newborn so they would be getting a higher concentration. I left a note at my bedside to ask the nurses to remind me to pump every 3 or 4 hours. Even when I pumped in those first days--there was very little milk. My milk supply came right back after about 4 or 5 days. It was almost as if my body said *wait a minute, I have to take care of you first, then I'll make milk.* In my clinic practice, this question often comes up with dilitation and cuttatage and 6 weeks post-partum tubal ligations. I tell mothers to speak to the annesthesiologist and express their concerns regarding breastfeeding. If there is a short acting medication-- for a short surgery the annest. has options. If it is going to be a long involved surgery requiring deep annesthesia and paralytic drugs (and who knows what else will be dumped into mother's system ) the we should err on the side of caution. Marie Davis