Breastfeeding and cancer treatments
Your specialist doctor, nurse and midwife will give you advice about breastfeeding. It usually depends on where you are with your treatment plan.
About breastfeeding and cancer treatments
Your specialist doctor, nurse and midwife will give you advice about breastfeeding. It usually depends on the stage of your treatment. You can ask if there is an infant-feeding co-ordinator available in your area. Infant-feeding co-ordinators are usually midwives or health visitors who specialise in supporting you to breastfeed.
Breastfeeding co-ordinators, your health visitor or GP can also help if you are not able to breastfeed your baby and need to stop milk production.
The NHS has information about how to stop breastfeeding.
Chemotherapy and breastfeeding
If chemotherapy finishes a few weeks before your baby is born, you may be able to breastfeed straight away. Your midwife will give you lots of support and advice.
You may have to continue chemotherapy after the birth. In this situation, your doctor or nurse will recommend you do not breastfeed. This is because the drugs could be passed to your baby through breast milk.
If you are not having any other treatment after chemotherapy, you could think about expressing milk. You will not be able to keep this milk for your baby. But expressing milk means you will still be producing milk when chemotherapy finishes. After a few weeks you could then start to breastfeed.
Radiotherapy and breastfeeding
If you have had radiotherapy to the breast or chest, you may not produce any milk in that breast. You can still breastfeed from the other (non-treated) breast.
It is usually safe to continue breastfeeding if you are having radiotherapy to other areas of the body that are away from your chest.
Other drugs and breastfeeding
Targeted therapy, immunotherapy or hormonal therapy drugs can be passed to your baby through breast milk. Your doctor will tell you not to breastfeed while you are having these drugs.
It can sometimes be hard to get information about which drugs can affect breast milk. You can ask your cancer team or GP to check on the UK breastfeeding medicines advice service.
The Breastfeeding Network also has some information on medicines that are safe to take while breastfeeding. If you have stopped breastfeeding because you are having treatment, you can ask your cancer team to check that any medicines you are taking will not affect this. Some anti-sickness drugs such as domperidone can encourage breast milk production.
Surgery and breastfeeding
Surgery to remove the cancer will not usually affect your milk supply or ability to breastfeed, unless you are having breast surgery. But you may not be able to breastfeed while you are in hospital.
Before the operation, talk to the cancer team about whether your breast milk can be used after the operation. Medicines given during the operation may make your breast milk unsafe for your baby for a few days. But expressing the milk will maintain your supply so that you can keep breastfeeding when it is safe to do so.
If you are going to have a longer stay in hospital, you could ask the ward staff whether there is somewhere that expressed breast milk can be stored until it is ready to be used.
Donor breast milk
If the mother does not have enough of their own breast milk, some hospitals offer donated breast milk for babies born prematurely. The United Kingdom Association for Milk Banking (UKAMB) is a registered charity that supports milk banking in the UK. There are strict processes to make sure donor breast milk is safe.
Donor breast milk supplies are limited, so not all babies are eligible for donor breast milk from the NHS. Mummy’s Star can help you access milk banks as well as offer some financial support.
About our information
This information has been written, revised and edited by Macmillan Cancer Support’s Cancer Information Development team. It has been reviewed by expert medical and health professionals and people living with cancer.
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References
Below is a sample of the sources used in our pregnancy and cancer information. If you would like more information about the sources we use, please contact us at informationproductionteam@macmillan.org.uk
de Haan J, Verheecke M, et al. Oncological management and obstetric and neonatal outcomes for women diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy: a 20-year international cohort study of 1170 patients. Lancet Oncology. 2018. Vol 19 [accessed October 2023]
Public Health England, Cancer before, during and after pregnancy, National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service 2018 [accessed October 2023]
Silverstein J, Post AL, Chien AJ, Olin R, Tsai KK, Ngo Z, Van Loon K. Multidisciplinary management of cancer during pregnancy. JCO Oncol Pract. 2020 Sep;16(9):545-557. doi: 10.1200/OP.20.00077. PMID: 32910882. [accessed September 2023]
Wolters V, Heimovaara J, Maggen C, et al. Management of pregnancy in cancer Int J Gynecol Cancer 2021;31:314–322.
Reviewer
Consultant Medical Oncologist & Honorary Associate Professor
Date reviewed
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We use gender-inclusive language and talk to our readers as ‘you’ so that everyone feels included. Where clinically necessary we use the terms ‘men’ and ‘women’ or ‘male’ and ‘female’. For example, we do so when talking about parts of the body or mentioning statistics or research about who is affected.
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