decongestents and breastfeeding

[addictedtocaffeine]

Hi, posting here for traffic so apologies in advance…..anyway I am feeling so miserable. Our family has all come down with some sort of nasty viral infection this week and over the last day or so I have been really unwell with high fevers, cough, blocked nose etc…
I have a 10 month old DC and I still breastfeed.
I know the labels say not to use decongestants when breastfeeding, I think it has something to do with milk supply….but I just wondered if there was anyone out there who has used a nasal spray while breastfeeding?
I know it would make me feel so much better to get rid of this sinus pain! Steam inhalation works for a short while then I am just feeling terrible again.
So I suppose my question is AIBU to use a decongestant…just once…?!

The best thing I found was a saline nasal spray. Feels a bit weird but helps shift all the gunk plus you can use it as often as you need whilst breastfeeding. Hope you all feel better soon!

I would go to the gp and get antibiotics if i were you. You're right that decongestants can affect supply but also they can make the sinus problem worse.

If you can't get an appointment can you get some method crystals from the chemist for steam inhalation? They are quite effective

I've always used the nasal sprays when breastfeeding - I doubt very much gets from your nose to your breasts anyway and I never noticed a supply issue. At 10 months I doubt it's a problem.

You can always look up drugs on Lactmed for all the research toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT

Have you tried nasal irrigation? It's just sloshing warm, salty water up one nostril and down the other, but it's much more effective for sinus problems than decongestants and nothing remotely breastfeeding unfriendly!

We had something similar at Christmas. I am a prolific Sudafed nose spray user normally - I hate not being able to breathe through my nose but was feeding DD 8 weeks at the time. I felt so horrendous one day I used it every few hrs all day... With no effect on my supply but I tried to avoid it for the rest of the illness. I'd say allow yourself a but of use, say before bed to help you sleep but try to limit it...

When I looked into this in December I read that it is actually more likley to have an affect on your supply when feeding an older baby. I assume because you are feeding less often. Although in the end I ended up taking a nose spray a few times (whilst feeding my 11 month old) as we were flying abroad.

You should be fine to take it a few times bit keep it to a minimum. If you're really worried then saline irrigation as others have said is the best/safest option.

Snufflebabe is the other thing I used! Hope you feel better soon.

I was told (by my GP) It's fine to use Beconase nasal spray (a hayfever treatment) whilst bf-ing. It definitely helped with colds but I also found the saline spray really good plus olbas oil pastilles and Vick vapour rub at night...

thanks for the replies everyone, I'll try the saline spray first and depending on how I feel later I might have a sneaky spray of a decongestent later. hoping we all feel better soon!! illness is such a pain...

Just take it at night to help you sleep for a couple of days, just do one squirt on one side