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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

treating hayfever while breastfeeding?

18 replies

sambageeni · 26/04/2011 18:40

Help! i am breastfeeding my 10 month old dd but am suffering with hayfever. Does anyone know of any remedies i can take? i have piriteze at home but it says do not take. Is there anything out there?

OP posts:
TruthSweet · 26/04/2011 18:44

samba - Have a look here to see if there is anything you normally take for your hayfever (obviously to see if they interact with any other meds you take as well).

If not you can do barrier methods like vaseline around the nose and eye drops.

HTH

Batteryhuman · 26/04/2011 18:46

Go and see your GP. Mine allowed me to use the steroid nasal sprays (eg Beconase) and eyedrops but you should seek advice.

bilblio · 26/04/2011 19:04

Go to the GP. I've been today because I'm pregnant and starting to suffer. Last time I was pregnant I took Flixonase nasal spray which worked, you have to take it every day though to get it into your system and I'm a bit rubbish at remembering to take medication. GP also gave me piriton as a top up just in case.

He said there's not actually any evidence that hayfever remedies are harmful if pregnant... and there's far less being passed on with BFing. Drug companies won't put on the information that they're safe because no one will do tests on pregnant women.

I feel very reassured though because the chemist double checked in the BNF before handing them over too.

Original poster
sambageeni · 26/04/2011 19:18

thanks everyone i will seek some medical advice. she is my third child and i always seem to be either pregnant or breastfeeding while hayfever season is on. drives me crackers!

OP posts:
KnitterInTheNW · 26/04/2011 19:22

I've got one of these allergy relivers. You look like rudolph for three minutes while you have the probes up your nose and it's switched on, but it really does work. I've just bought my second one as I'm pg again, and have lost the one I had when I was pg/breastfeeding last time.

Original poster
sambageeni · 26/04/2011 20:02

that looks fab!

OP posts:
HarrietJones · 26/04/2011 20:07

I had antihistamines for allergic reactions so I just take those. Can't remember the name off hand but they begin with L. Piriton can make baby drowsy according to the hospital.

HerMajestiesSecretCervix · 26/04/2011 20:09

Try eating local honey and drinking nettle tea. The more local you can get with the honey the better as it should be made from all those pesky pollens that are getting up your nose so to say. Good luck.

AngelDog · 26/04/2011 20:17

I take Benadryl syrup for age 2+ (it's cetirizine) after reading the BfN advice.

I'd take a copy of the BfN leaflet to the GP with you in case you need to show them. I spoke to 2 pharmacists about my hayfever, both of whom said I should avoid any medication due to bf. Hmm

Knitter - thanks for the recommendation; I'd been wondering about those things.

Lynzjam · 26/04/2011 20:46

When I was pregnant last year, I suffered terribly with hayfever. I was so miserable I took piriton because I was really really desparate.

I intend on taking it this year too while breastfeeding. I figured taking it after DD goes to bed and has her longest stretch of sleep would be ideal.

I used the allergy reliever last year which i think alleviated the symptoms but to be honest, piriton helped me a great deal more!

Been eating local honey for years now and I'm yet to notice a difference. Arghh hayfever is such a bitch.....bloody grass! Grrrrr

TruthSweet · 26/04/2011 21:23

I wish I could take anti-histamines. Even if I stop bfing I can't as both the meds I take (and I need to take them, it's non-negotiable) interact with antihistamines to depress the central nervous system so if I want to breathe etc I can't take any of anti-hs.

Sorry just feeling a bit sorry for myself with sore eyes and a runny nose yet again.

AngelDog · 26/04/2011 21:26

:( Truth - I feel for you: it's MISERABLE. Even with anti-hs, it's bad enough.

Have you tried one of those phototherapy allergy relievers that Knitter linked to? Homeopathy?

TruthSweet · 26/04/2011 21:50

If I did homeopathy DH would divorce me (and I would too - sorry) but I will have a look into what Knitter linked to.

The ironic thing is I only developed hayfever when pg with DD1 (got pg in June by July I was a mess of snot) and have been pg/bfing ever since so even if I wasn't on my meds I would be limited in my options.

Babieseverywhere · 26/04/2011 21:59

I use the same thing as KnitterInTheNW and it is fab. Seeing as I have been either pregnant or breastfeeding or both for nearly 5 years, I can't remember using hayfever medicine.

AngelDog · 26/04/2011 22:09

I did try the homeopathy thing, but only because they sold it with the other hayfever stuff in Boots! Can't remember if it made a difference, mind - I don't know much about that sort of stuff. Grin

silkenladder · 27/04/2011 15:51

I have a nasal douche. You can buy them at every chemist and drugstore in Germany, but they're not well-known in the UK.

You fill it with water, pour in a little packet of mineral salts and then hold it to one nostril. The water flows through the nose and out the other nostril and rinses out all the pollen and gunk. Sounds gross, but brilliant when you don't want to/can't take anti-histamines.

(I haven't ever ordered from that website btw, so can't vouch for it. Emcur and Emser are the two big brands in Germany, though.)

silkenladder · 27/04/2011 15:56

Oh, just seen you can get them on Amazon, too.

japhrimel · 28/04/2011 10:51

FWIW my FIL ( a pharmaceutical chemist) told us that Flixonase gets into the bloodstream even less than Beconase. So it's worth asking the GP about - many of them aren't aware Flixonase even exists!

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