breastfeeding after a general anaesthetic

[BoohPear]

Is it safe to do so? I'm due to have a small op in January which I will need a general dd will be nearly 10 months. I will need to stay overnight and I'm worried about how she will cope. we still feed to sleep so I know dh will be in for an interesting night!

is it safe to feed after a general? if dh brings her at visiting time she will be desperate to feed so its either if its safe to feed he brings her, if its not I won't get to see her.

Anyone got any advice or been through similar?

Thanks.

Yes it is. I have been through this twice in recent months. General anesthetic is short acting so as soon as you're not groggy, it's fine to feed. More official info here

Good luck with your op.

You probably want to get the infant feeding coordinator onside though: a lot of adult wards don't allow very young children to visit. They might make an exception for a bf baby though.

Speak to PALS and/or infant feeding coordinator.

As pp said, there is no problem feeding after GA but logistically hospitals can be awkward from my experience. I had massive issues with them even allowing dd on the ward and she was newborn (10 weeks). I really had to dig my heels in and confirmed pre operation that I would discharge myself if they wouldn't support me.

Definitely speak to coordinator at the hospital. s/he will support your decision to feed. Also talk about pain killers they may use. My surgeon was really good in that he allowed me to come around from the surgery before administing pain killers. Turned out I just had coodamol rather than something stronger. You know your own pain threshold but sometimes surgeons just go with the same pain killer for everyone.

All the best.

Yes, I did. I also thinkiwould have had morphine after the general as I was having a cervical stitch inserted and morphine seemed to be good in stopping the contractions I would get following surgery.

Thank you so much. Where would I find contact details for the infant feeding coordinator? Tbh I don't think anyone would dare challenge my bear of a DH, and after the horrible night on guessing he will have with dd nothing will stop him bringing her to me!

Out of interest why don't they like babies on wards? Is it the noise factor?

I'm guessing

The reason I was given was health and safety of baby and bugs / germs, I quote "the day ward is no place for a newborn, full if bugs, just give her a bottle of formula" [shocked]

The mind boggles. Didn't fill me with much confidence about my operation.

Look at the maternity section of your hospital website: it should have information about bfing and someone you could contact there.

I think its bugs both ways rather than noise, when DH was in hospital no under 12s (I think) were allowed to visit. They can make exceptions though.