I've been breastfeeding since 9 month old DD was born. All gone pretty well. But I have had some health problems of my own (unrelated to birth, just bad luck), so have been in contact with a lot of different NHS staff, and I am getting really fed up with some of the advice I've been getting.
Most recently: Speaking to hospital nurse about one antibiotic I might (hopefully won't) have to take, a 7-day course. I contacted the BfN drugs helpline about this drug; they said a relatively small amount passes into milk, and the drug itself is licensed for infants too, plus it should be out of my system 12 hours after each dose. LactMed says it's fairly safe. The InfantRisk people say it's fairly safe. So I thought, ok, I can keep feeding.
But the hospital say no - the manufacturer says breastfeeding isn't recommended, so if I need this drug I will have to stop breastfeeding for the full 7 days. Or, as the nurse put it, "probably just stop it altogether at this point."
And before this it was an operation under GA where I was told at the pre-op assessment I'd have to stop feeding for 24 hours after. (I asked to speak to the anaesthetist, anaesthetist was hugely bf-supportive and said it was fine to feed as soon as I came round, but if I hadn't challenged the first info I'd never have heard that.) And before that it was the GP telling me I'd have to stop feeding for 3-4 days because I had a vomiting virus. And before that it was the HV telling me it was a big problem that newborn DD was 'snacking' (= feeding hourly).
I am so glad we've been able to bf this long, but it makes me feel really strange and sad to be put in a position where I feel like this weird breastfeeding-obsessed woman about it if I don't want to stop the second there's any kind of possible problem. Get your act together, NHS 