How bad are decongestants really?

[YoullScreamAboutItOneDay]

DD2 is 16 months and still a bit of a milk monster. I know that decongestants are bad for supply and therefore not recommended for nursing mothers. I also know that, unlike most things, it seems to have more impact the longer you have been feeding.

I have managed four years of bf and pregnancy without them across the two DC but this cold is really beating me. I am in so much pain across my sinuses and none of the natural options are touching it.

Does anyone know just how likely I am to have a problem if I take a dose or two. TBH I feel so bad I would accept the end of bf if that did happen, but I can't really get a sense of my magnitude of risk from any of the stuff I have found online.

I would love to hear they're not so bad, my sinuses are killing me right now. I think it's one of those things that varies a lot between women.

I'm relying on paracetamol-only generic lemsip and lockets. Going to add some ibuprofen in today, as think taking some swelling out of my head might help.

I took decongestants once my eldest was down to two feeds a day. She started nursery and brought a series of hellish colds home with her! I didn't have a supply problem, but of course that's no guarantee. I stopped feeding at 15 months (my choice, but DD wasn't tooooo upset about it) so I don't really have experience with what you're thinking of.

Decongestants work by drying up bodily fluids- mucus and milk. Ibuprofen might help if you haven't already tried it. How about calling the BFN drugs in breastmilk line for a chat? They might be able to recommend something else.

I took them out of desperation when I had sinusitis. DS was 18m and down to 2 feeds a day, and it pretty much finished it off.

Have you been to the docs? Anti-bs was the only thing that worked for me in the end.