Medication and breast milk

[DappledOliveGroves]

Apologies if this is a stupid question.

DD is almost four months old. Breastfed apart from one bottle of formula at night.

I have horrendous back pain - slipped disc. I had a steroid injection into the spine on Monday but it's done nothing and I'm looking at having to have more surgery (have long-standing back issues). I'm taking paracetamol but on occasion the pain is so bad that I'm having to consider dihydrocodeine which is the 'safest' option when breastfeeding.

My question is this: will any medication I take be 'stored' in my breast milk or, if it's left my system, will it also mean that it isn't in the breast milk? So, for example, with a drug with a fairly rapid half life, if I don't feed for around 9 hours, if the drug has left my body will it mean it's not in my milk or is it stored there somehow?

Another example - alcohol - if I have a glass of wine and don't feed DD for say 8 hours, if the wine has totally left my system, will it still be in the breast milk if I haven't fed in that time? Are substances 'stored' in breast milk or not?

The best place to find this info is the team of expert volunteer pharmacists at the breastfeeding network drugs in breastmilk information service which is also part of the national breastfeeding helpline.

You can email or Facebook message this service.

www.facebook.com/BfNDrugsinBreastmilkinformation/

[email protected]

Re alcohol, as it leaves your blood it leaves your breastmilk (so if you feel ok to drive, for instance) you can breastfeed.

But other drugs behave differently, some of them build up in breast milk and some of them don't pass into the breast milk at all which is why an expert pharmacist can advise you best. They can almost always find a solution – a different way of dosing or a more suitable medication for you.