help what drugs am I allowed?

[susiey]

I have developed a nasty cough and cold and am breastfeeding my 16 week old.
I am really congested and am living currently on cocktail of ibuprofen and paracetamol. with albous oil steam.
Its not even touching the headache and I have to look after my 3 kids!
I was wondering is there anything else I can take for either my cough and my congestion while breast feeding

Poor you, sounds miserable. Will bump this for you in case some-one who knows comes along.
Maybe NHS Direct would be able to tell you if its ok to try some sudafed.
Tomorrow you could check with pharmacist or the Drugs in Breastmilk Helpline.

Though it doesn't cover UK brands, if you go to toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search and search the LactMed box in the middle it will give you info about any drugs.

A quick search says:

Paracetamol (Acetaminophen) is a good choice for analgesia, and fever reduction in nursing mothers. Amounts in milk are much less than doses usually given to infants. Adverse effects in breastfed infants appear to be rare.

Ibuprofen - Because of its extremely low levels in breastmilk, short half-life and use in infants in doses much higher than those excreted in breastmilk, ibuprofen is a preferred choice as an analgesic or antiinflammatory agent in nursing mothers.

Also very useful www.kellymom.com/health/meds/cold-remedy.html

How are you feeling today?

I was full of cold just before xmas and i drank hot water with lemon and a spoon full of honey - it really helped my throat loads, if my throat was really bad i'd have a spoon ful of honey on its over and it is a bit like cough medicine in texture and coated my throat nicely. Hope your feeling better soon

still feeling rubbish thanks for asking!

I looked at the kelly mom link it was so useful and I found out that sudafed was not brilliant but ok.it really helped don't feel like an elephant is sat on my chest anymore.
I will only take it when I'm really desperate though and as a last resort - today is the first day I've felt human!

need to able to do school runs by wednesday afternoon so hoping its on its way out

Glad you're on the mend . There are some really nasty bugs around at the mo.

This link is info from the NHS called "Can I take cough and cold remedies when I'm breastfeeding?' - www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/855.aspx?CategoryID=54&SubCategoryID=135

I was delighted to find I could take Robitussin Dry Cough medicine, containing dextromethorphan - I was coughing CONSTANTLY at night, which is doubly rubbish with a 5 month old in a bedside cot who wakes up if I so much as sniff...

It's a good idea to print the page and take to a pharmacist if you can. IME they are very nervous about giving BF-ing mums anything, and the warnings on the packets always say 'discuss with doctor if BF-ing', to be on the safe side.