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Many people are able to become pregnant after breast cancer treatment. However, some treatments can make this more difficult. If you think you might want to have children one day, it’s best to talk to your healthcare team about this before you begin treatment, if possible.

Your healthcare team can also answer questions about breastfeeding after cancer treatment.

Can I have a baby after breast cancer?

Some treatments for breast cancer might affect your fertility, meaning your ability to have a baby. For example, chemotherapy for breast cancer can cause infertility in a few different ways:

• This infertility might be temporary or permanent.
• It can happen right away or it can develop later on, if the treatment causes early menopause.

Still, many people are able to become pregnant after breast cancer. If you can plan ahead before treatment, there may also be ways to improve your chances of having children in the future.

To learn more about how cancer treatment can affect fertility and how you might be able to plan ahead, see Fertility Problems.

Can pregnancy or breastfeeding make my breast cancer come back?

Pregnancy and breastfeeding do not seem to increase the chance of breast cancer coming back (recurring).

Pregnancy

Many breast cancers are sensitive to estrogen. In the past, there was concern that high hormone levels during pregnancy might increase the chance of breast cancer coming back. However, studies have not shown that pregnancy increases the risk of cancer coming back after successful treatment.

Breastfeeding

Some people might not be able to breastfeed after breast cancer treatment. This depends on the type of treatment and other factors. For more on this, see Can I Breastfeed After Treatment. 

But if you can breastfeed after treatment, this is not thought to increase the risk of breast cancer recurrence.

Breastfeeding, especially for a year or more, is linked to a lower risk of developing breast cancer. There is less research about whether it can help lower the risk of breast cancer coming back after treatment.

How long do I need to wait before trying for a pregnancy?

Breast cancer survivors are sometimes advised to wait at least 2 years after finishing treatments such as surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy before trying to become pregnant.

The best length of time to wait is not clear. But 2 years is thought to be enough time to find any early cancer recurrence, which could affect the decision to become pregnant.

Keep in mind that the advice about waiting 2 years is based largely on medical expert opinion rather than data from clinical trials. And some breast cancers can come back after more than 2 years, so every case is different. Your decision should take many things into account, including your:

• Age
• Desire for more pregnancies
• Type of breast cancer
• Risk of cancer coming back early

If your breast cancer is hormone receptor-positive

Adjuvant hormone therapy is typically recommended for 5 to 10 years after initial treatment for hormone receptor-positive breast cancers.

Women who want to have children during this time are often advised to take hormone therapy for at least 18 months before stopping it, then wait a few more months before trying to become pregnant to make sure there is no medicine left in the body. 

Hormone therapy can then be started again. Ideally, it's restarted within 2 years of first stopping it, after the baby is born and possibly after breastfeeding. It is then continued for the planned total length of treatment.

If I get pregnant, will my history of breast cancer put my baby at risk?

Having a history of breast cancer does seem to be linked to an increased risk of some possible complications of pregnancy, including preterm delivery, having a low-birth-weight baby, and the need for a cesarean section (C-section).

But a woman’s past history of breast cancer does not seem to increase the rate of birth defects or other long-term health concerns for any children she has after breast cancer. 

Could breast cancer treatment affect my unborn baby?

Talk to your healthcare team before trying to become pregnant if you're still getting any type of medicine to treat your breast cancer. This includes chemotherapy, hormone therapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy medicines.

Many of these medicines can affect a growing fetus. It is safer to wait until all treatment is complete before you try to get pregnant. Depending on the medicines used for your treatment, you might need to wait several months after you finish.

It’s also important to remember that stopping treatment early might increase the risk of the cancer growing or coming back.

For more on this, see Treating Breast Cancer During Pregnancy.