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Want pain medication after this C-section...how will it affect breast milk?
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Anonymous
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I had a C-Section with my first kid. I stopped taking anything stronger than tylenol before I left the hospital -- because I didn't want my baby ingesting those drugs. I was in so much pain for so long, and it made me a little crazy.
Now I'm being told that I'm probably going to have to have another c-section. Did anyone else go ahead and take the hard drugs even though they were breast-feeding? I don't want to experience that kind of pain again. |
Anonymous
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Oh, yes, I took the pain drugs after the C section while breastfeeding. My daughter is just fine and hitting her developmental milestones, sometimes even early. My doc explained if you take the pain drugs early and consistently, it prevents pain and you can possibly stop taking them sooner. Which is what happened to me.
They seemed to have no effect on my daughter at all. She didn't act drugged up, and latched onto my breast just fine. |
Anonymous
| The drugs they prescribe you are completely safe when breastfeeding. The trick is not letting the pain get ahead of you. I don't tolerate narcotic meds very easily so I couldn't take them a lot. I alternated tylenol and motrin 800mg during the daytime so I was taking something every couple of hours - its called stacking - which is safe because the two act on different receptors in the body. I then took the stronger pain med at night when I was more aware of my pain while trying to sleep, get up to breastfeed, etc. I only needed the narcotics for a few nights and then was good to go with the tylenol and motrin. |
Anonymous
| I was on percoset for 5-7 days after the c/s. It's safe for breastfeeding, and my daughter didn't have any problems. |
Anonymous
| I had a kidney stone during pregnancy and took percocet for the last month of pregnancy as needed (I tried to only take it when it got really bad), as well as for the first 2 weeks after my C-section. My baby was (is) fine. |
Anonymous
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OP here -- Thank you all for the reassurance. My doctor did tell me that the pain medication was fine, but I ignored him because he was an OB and not a pediatrician. So I needed to hear from others that their babies didn't suffer.
Honestly, I was actually thinking about whether I could breastfeed this time if it meant giving up the drugs. I'm also hoping though, that the second c-section isn't as horrible as the first was. |
Anonymous
| If your first CS was an emergency CS, then it was probably worse than a planned CS will be. I had a scheduled CS for my second baby, and it was great. No labor and pushing to wear you out. I felt pretty good only a few hours after surgery. I recommend taking percoset for the first few days though. Perfectly fine for the baby, as is advil during BF (not during pregnancy). My doctor had me taking both in the hospital, but I took mostly advil once I was home. |
Anonymous
OP to PP: Excellent point. I hadn't thought of that. I had pushed for 3 hours, and then had the c-section. I was feeling it everywhere. |
Anonymous
| Not trying to scare here, but my first c-section was an emergency one, and my recovery was great. Literally, I didn't even have to take tylenol and I was bouncing around as soon as I got home. A total anomaly, I understand and respect that "now"! "Now" being that I had a second c-section and thought I would die from pain. I tried to tough it out at the hospital but finally wised up and took percocet, advil, and tylenol for about a week until I could feel halfway human again. That all said, one of my concerns was the impact (of me taking all these drugs) upon my daughter. She was already colickly and had reflux to boot, so who knows, but all the docs said that the drugs would have no impact on her. She's thriving now, at 4 months old. |