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Infant feeding

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Original poster

Local anasthetic while breastfeeding. Anyone had it?

40 replies

pixiefish · 27/10/2004 21:24

Has anyone had a local anasthetic while breastfeeding. I ask because I've got a horrid ingrown toenail that's really bad and has been for about 7 months. Up until recently the chiropodist has been cutting it but now she says it's chronic and there's no more they can do until I stop bfing which I really don't want to do as dd is only 8 1/2 months.
The option, once I stop bfing is to put local anasthetic in my toe, cut the nail and then put acid on the root to stop it growing. They say they can't do this while I'm bfing.
I'm not being a total woos- I can hardly walk anymore and am in constant pain as when I do walk I put the weight elsewhere on my foot and now have pain in the whole of my foot because of this.
Desperate for any advice

OP posts:
prufrock · 27/10/2004 21:30

I had local for some fairly major dental work when dd was 5 months and dentist just said I had to pump and dump for 24 hours to make sure it was out of my system. I was expressing so jsut used some of my store (and used the opportunity to get TOTALLY bladdered without worrying about giving dd alcohol poisoning)
Find out which anasthetic they will be using and check with a bfc if it si OK - or ask zebra to look it up on Hales for you.

Original poster
pixiefish · 27/10/2004 21:33

Thanks prufrock- am going to try and get appt to see chiropodist soon and then ask her to contact the pharmacy at my local hospital to check. The pain is constant but i hate the thought of having to stop bfing. I want to carry on longer than 12 months but at this rate we'll have to stop sooner.

OP posts:
Ellaroo · 27/10/2004 21:53

I too had major dental work when dd was about 9 months old and had a morphine gas, I think. They said I shouldn't feed her for 6 hours - which was fine, she just had water until I could feed her. However, if this is not an option - have you thought about acupuncture as an anasthetic - my acupunturist says this can even be an alternative to anasthesia during a ceasarean, but isn't that widely used in the west, but it must be good if it can do that!

Original poster
pixiefish · 27/10/2004 22:07

Spose they'd have to get an anesthatist there for the morphine gas wouldn't they... I'll have to ask... don't know how much longer I can cope with the pain but am really desperate to keep bfing

OP posts:
Nome · 27/10/2004 22:42

There must be something they can use that you can pump and dump. I had a general anasthetic when ds was four weeks old and just had to pump and dump for 12 hours. Also had a great big filling done when ds was 6 weeks old and wasn't told to do anything.

Original poster
pixiefish · 27/10/2004 22:44

Have spoken to 4 chiropodists and all 4 say the same- but I think I'm going to have to do something now- just wondered if anyone had had something similar so I could use it as ammo

OP posts:
hercules · 27/10/2004 22:48

I've had quite a bit of dental work with a local whilst bf and just been told to bf as normal.

prufrock · 27/10/2004 22:49

And what makes you think chiropodists (and bet they're all men as well) know anything about breast feeding? Sonce when did toes produce milk?

seriously, don't even ask tehm about the bf, just ask what anasthetic they intend to use, and then ask a bfc about the effect that will have on your milk.

Original poster
pixiefish · 27/10/2004 22:51

no, they were women but the ones they phoned at the hospital were men

OP posts:
mears · 27/10/2004 23:19

Sorry - why can't you have local anaesthetic in yout toe when you are breastfeeding? We midwives fill you bum full of it when stitching episiotomies and there is no restrictions on feeding.

Original poster
pixiefish · 28/10/2004 08:52

ta mears- hadn't thought of that as an argument

OP posts:
Tissy · 28/10/2004 08:59

Absolutely, mears, local anaesthetic is "LOCAL". It is injected and stays in the tissues just where it was put. Even if it did get into the blood, the dose you would need for a toenail operation is minute, so wouldn't do any harm. Tell the chiropodist to get on with it, and leave the feeding issues to you!

Clayhead · 28/10/2004 09:02

pixiefish, I had a sililar situation and was told that if local anaesthetics cross into breastmilk, the amount is so small it is virtually indetectable. I carried on feeding as normal as my Dr advised.

HTH

Original poster
pixiefish · 28/10/2004 09:07

clayhead- what did you have done if you don't mind me asking

OP posts:
Waswondering · 28/10/2004 09:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
pixiefish · 28/10/2004 09:10

It is Waswondering- made worse by the fact that I've had it for 7 months- they've said they can't do anything for the last 6 months so I've been hobbling- this has made the rest of my foot ache as well. I am going to be so cross if there's no problem with the anasthetic- I'll have suffered needlessly for 6 months

OP posts:
toddlerbob · 28/10/2004 09:14

I've had major root canal done, also had a gastroscopy and had a general for a sinus operation and not one doctor has suggested that I had to give up bfing. The gastroenterologist told me not to feed my 4 month old ds for 6 hours, but I did my own research and stuck him up my jumper when he wasn't looking (ds not the doc.)

Don't really understand how something that does in your toe would affect your breast milk! If your dd needed a little stitch or something they would give her a local wouldn't they. I'd just go for it and not mention you are feeding - none of their business anyway!

Clayhead · 28/10/2004 09:16

Just a small procedure on the back of my head (!)

aloha · 28/10/2004 09:19

I'd just tell them that I had stopped breastfeeding - and just carry on as normal.

tiktok · 28/10/2004 09:57

pixiefish, what rubbish you have been told.....dear me. The local anaesthetic will not get anywhere near your milk. Even a general anaesthetic is no big deal. When it's out of your system, it's out of your milk....so when you come round from a GA, it is out of your system, so as soo as you are conscious, it's ok to feed.

Original poster
pixiefish · 28/10/2004 13:20

What about the acid they apply to the nail after cutting it out then tiktok- would that be ok? or would that get into my milk

OP posts:
midden · 28/10/2004 13:28

Just thought I would add my experience, had sugery when ds was 6 weeks, had a general plus lots of morphine afterwards, then a morphine antidote as they had given me too much. Still breastfed and was not warned not too by anyone, was on brufen for long time afterwards too....ds was presumably feeding lots more at 6 weeks than your dd at 8 months. Ds was fine and did not suffer, I am somone who would usually not take painkillers for a headache and prefer natural remedies but this time there was no option!

KateandtheGirls · 28/10/2004 14:00

I had a local anaesthetic on my hand when I was bfing (I had an infected fingernail), with no problems and no concern from the plastic surgeon who knew I was nursing.

suedonim · 28/10/2004 14:03

I had a D&C under a GA when I had a 3wk old baby and I was able to feed before and after with no problems. Logic tells me that if a baby needed an op or a procedure then he would be given a GA or local so it's hard to see how a jag in the toe could cause any harm, though I guess different drugs might be used on a baby.

Sympathy re the toe, Pixiefish. My ds2 had the same problem in both toes and it was awful - the smell of his rotting feet nearly knocked us backwards out the room - eugh!!

tiktok · 28/10/2004 14:52

Logic tells me that anything they apply to your toe is not going to be anything like strong enough to effect you systemically, pixiefish....and if it doesn't get into your system, it can't get into your milk.

(Even stuff which does get into the system doesn't necessarily reach the milk - something to do with osmotality and molecules and fat solubleness. And even if it does reach the milk, some stuff is automatically destroyed in the stomach before it reaches the baby's system).

HTH