Dear "netters: A while back there was mention of women who were breastfeeding after breast cancer, but I don't recall references. I saw a woman today who had a lumpectomy and radiation in 1989 and is now pregnant at age 38. Her radiated breast has had no pregnancy changes but the other breast has increased in size. She had hoped to breastfeed, but two oncologists have told her she shouldn't. The one reason cited was the difficulty of monitoring the breasts during lactation. The other reason was that she was already "taking a chance" exposing the breasts to the estrogen levels of pregnancy, and that she shouldn't continue exposing them to the extra estrogen of breastfeeding. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a relative estrogen deficiency during lactation? Anyone have any good references to help this mother make the decision? At the very least, I would love to challenge the oncologist to produce studies that have shown increased risk of recurrent breast cancer with lactation, but I wonder if there are any data. I welcome all comments and suggestions. TIA, Alicia. [log in to unmask]