Does general anesthesia affect breastmilk?

Yes, pump before: Hello if you require a surgery that makes general anesthesia necessary then you really have no choice. The bad part is almost all of the drugs used will go into the breast milk ( narcotics, valium type drugs as well) the good part these drugs are gone from your body in under 2 days to be safe. If all you feed your infant is breast milk pump before surgery discard any B milk for the next several

Pump and dimp: Trace amounts of the drugs used in general anesthesia can be excreted in the breast milk. The amounts are usually quite small but the general recommendation is to pump and dump your breast milk for 24 hours after surgery. Good luck!

Breast milk and drug: Usually general anesthesia use very short acting drugs either inhalation agents or intravenous medications. They do not stay in body for long, Usually less than 24 hours. Therefore they may have minimum effect on breast milk. One can pump the breast milk and store it for baby feeding for this short period. This is another way to avoid this issue.