Breastfeeding after surgery ( for a friend)

[JBaxter]

Surgery/breastfeeding

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Im posting this for a friend.

She is going to have surgery to remove a IUD that is missing. It was placed a few days ago and it has migrated somewhere. She will have to be inabated (sp). How long will she have to go without nursing her baby? They told her 48 hrs and she is a bit frantic about that.

Little back ground her DS1 didnt gain weight she pumped got some "less than knowledgeable" advice and eventually gave up (he hadnt regained his birth weight at 8 weeks)
DS2 is nursing like a champ gained 3lbs in 5 weeks sleeps 4 hrs at a time and she is SO proud she and he are doing well even with a csection and a bladder infection( hes almost 8 weeks now).
She is worried about messing up her breast feeding relationship since he has never had a bottle and she has yet to pump because of being on antibiotics ( she didnt want to freeze less than "perfert" milk and she is a teacher so she will be off all summer then going back to work 2 1/2 days a week in the fall.

Any advice I can pass on will be VERY helpful.

[kristenk]

One excellent source of info is Thomas Hale's website.

http://neonatal.ttuhsc.edu/lact/medicationforumspage.html

Only medical professionals can post questions, but anyone can search. If she can look up any medications that she'll be on after surgery, that could help a lot. Actually, it's a great resource to use to look up *any* meds that she'll be on.

I had a deviated septum repaired when DD was 10mo. I *think* that I was able to breastfeed 24 hours after surgery. I'm not positive about that, though, b/c it was all sort of a blur. I was on pain meds, but I had checked them on the Hale site and they were fine.

Good luck to your friend!

[egoldber]

Well, if I were her, I'd breastfeed right away. I mean after a c-section (major abdominal surgery and major narcotics) they encourage moms to breastfeed a newborn immediately, KWIM? So I'm not sure why she would need to wait at all.

[o_mom]

For most all anesthesia, she can nurse as soon as she is alert enough to hold the baby:

http://www.kellymom.com/health/illness/mom-surgery.html

She can call the doctor and get the exact medications they are using and look them up if she wants:

http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/anesthetics.html

As the PP said, even a c-section under general does not preclude BF as soon as the mom is awake.

For some practical advice, I would tell her to bring the baby along as well as a baby sitter. Nurse the baby as close to the surgery as possible then have the sitter take him home. By the time she gets home she should be alert enough to feed him. If the sitter has to give him a bottle, 8 weeks is old enough that the risk of interference would be low. She should be able to pump enough for one small bottle the day before. Unless there are serious complications, I would think this would be a pretty quick procedure.

[JBaxter]

What she is planning is to talk to the docs on tuesday before the surgery. her mom is coming with her and she will breast feed up till they take her into surgery. I sent her all the posts so far and she is calling the lac consultant at the hospital. Another friend dropped of a medela double pump and she was going to try to get some in the frige.

Her OB ( who is also mine) is really upset this happened. He is the most mom friendly doc I have ever met. He was going out of town and called her just to check on her. This was her 2nd IUD and she had no problems with the first.

Please keep the suggestions coming I am forwarding them to her.