Guidelines for anaesthesia and sedation for patients who are breastfeeding: Guidelines from the Association of Anaesthetists

Any patient with a child aged < 2 y should routinely be asked at pre-operative assessment if breastfeeding or expressing breastmilk, for a procedure involving anaesthesia or sedation.

Anaesthetic, sedative and analgesic medicines are transferred to breastmilk in only very small amounts.

For almost all medicines used peri-operatively, there is no evidence of adverse effects on the breastfed child.

Patients should be advised that discarding breastmilk after anaesthesia ('pumping and dumping') is not necessary; 'sleep and keep' is now recommended.