Co-codamol and breastmilk

[Teeste]

I had the day from newborn hell yesterday - a 3 week old in a growth spurt and horrendous toothache. It was an emergency dentist jobbie and will need a root canal, so I was in quite a bit of pain. I took 2 co-codamol 8/500 between 7 and 8pm last night. I'm expressing and mix feeding (long story), so pumped and dumped last night. Does anyone happen to know when it would be OK to give him EBM again? T'internet says between 24 and 48 hours - is this right?

I think 48 hours is the point at which there'd definitely be no morphine at all detectable in your system but I'm not sure at what point it reaches a "safe" level, it depends on how fast/much you metabolize codeine into morphine, if at all (the main danger is if you're a supermetabolizer and end up with very high blood morphine levels). I am possibly not much help as I breastfed on opiates in hospital under medical supervsion with no ill effects.

Maybe contact the BFN helpline, Wendy is a specialist pharmacist and would be able to give you exact guidance.

I have been prescribed cocodamol (30/500) on and off since pregnancy ,and the gp wasn't concerned at any point about me breastfeeding with it.

As I said, I think the main issue is with people who are super-efficient metabolizers of codeine into morphine and end up with very high levels of morphine in their milk - if you're one of those people who go all woozy on a single Solpadeine, you might be at risk. They basically changed the default recs just to be safe on that basis.

That said, I never had any problems and was on, frankly, a shedload of the stuff after my c-section.

Thanks! The MW has just been to discharge me, she said not to worry, especially as my supply is hardly what you might call plentiful (60ml ish at a time), so concentrations when mixed with formula would be tiny anyway. And the benefits of EBM outweigh the risks. So I reckon we'll just carry on as normal from now on.

And no, I don't get woozy - if anything, my system resists painkillers! I always need an extra shot of anaesthetic at the dentist and wake up from sedatives too quickly. Drowsy Night Nurse? Pah!