Diseases That Affect Breastfeeding

Topic Overview

Most women with chronic illnesses or infectious diseases can breastfeed.

• Women with diabetes usually can breastfeed but may need to follow a special diet. They may be able to lower their insulin doses while breastfeeding, because their blood glucose is being used for milk production.
• Women with cystic fibrosis or phenylketonuria (PKU) must have their milk and their infant's health monitored when breastfeeding.
• In most cases, breastfeeding is possible when the mother has hepatitis A, chronic hepatitis B or hepatitis C, or cytomegalovirus (CMV).

Other diseases, though, may make breast milk unsafe for the baby. A woman should not breastfeed if she:

• Is infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), because she can pass the virus to her baby in her milk.
• Has sores on her breast caused by infections (such as herpes, syphilis, or chickenpox). She will need to wait until the infection has been resolved or successfully treated.

A woman also should not breastfeed if her baby has galactosemia.

A rare hormonal disorder called Sheehan's syndrome makes a woman unable to produce milk or to produce enough milk to feed her baby. Sheehan's syndrome results from severe bleeding (hemorrhaging) immediately after giving birth.