A cancer diagnosis during pregnancy, or when you have a young baby is likely a huge shock. The contrasting emotions of joy and anticipation for the new baby, alongside upset and fear surrounding your diagnosis are often really difficult to navigate. Feeding your baby comes with it’s own set of challenges, so dealing with a cancer diagnosis at the same time can be overwhelming.

We know that when it comes to infant feeding during cancer treatment, it can feel like doors are shut and your options are limited, leaving you feeling powerless. To support you, we have put together some resources to help navigate this as easily as possible.

We are not the medical experts and any infant feeding decision will need to be made in partnership with your medical team.

Before we begin….

Breastfeeding is a physiological process controlled by hormones. The two key processes involved are production of milk, and ejection of milk from the breast. For some women, breastfeeding works perfectly first time, others take a while to get into the rhythm and some women never quite reach their desired goal.

There are many reasons you might have a rocky road with breastfeeding, a key one being the demand it places on the body. Breastfeeding requires time and energy (both mental and nutritional) to get established. At times of high energy requirement, for example, if the mother has had major blood loss in delivery or if she has an infection, lactation can be affected.

This is because the body prioritises the health of the mother over and above producing milk.

So, before we look at what infant feeding options are available to you during your cancer treatment, please remember this:

1. Your body will prioritise you

Your bodies energy will be partitioned towards keeping you well. Your immune system will take priority to help combat any side effects of your medication and aid healing. This might mean lactation is on the back foot from the get go.

2. Mental health matters

Alongside the highs of mothering, there come inevitable lows. Guilt, anxiety, low mood and sometimes depression are common emotions to feel.  Certain aspects of mothering are under social scrutiny and infant feeding is top of the list.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that mothers who don’t meet their own personal infant feeding goals have worse mental health outcomes. This picture becomes even more complicated when a mother has cancer.

Getting appropriate support for your mental health is going to be vital, be that professional or peer support (or both). Please reach out to those around you; friends, family, and your medical team. We recommend Mummy’s Star, a charity dedicated to supporting Mums living with cancer and their families.