Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Flip

1 2 3

Original poster

Drugs and breastmilk...

73 replies

mmelody · 30/07/2008 15:29

Im just curious really...anyone know of any studies into illicit drug use and breastfeeding?? I know that women are encouraged to BF even when on a methadone prescription but I was wondering about more casual recreational use of say MDMA, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), cocaine etc

OP posts:

Original poster

mmelody · 30/07/2008 22:09

Thanks for the link laidback..

OP posts:

LadyJogsAlot · 30/07/2008 22:10

yes guadalupe!
that's my point.
we know drugs stay in your system because adults are tested on those things.

Laugs · 30/07/2008 22:10

Probably not at all relevant, but I had a few nights away from DD and took an anti-histamine (I know, what a rebel) that said do not take while breastfeeding.

I was half-expecting not to be able to carry on BF when I came home, but spoke to a GP and she said it was considered safe to BF after 12 hours.

I imagine different drugs would leave the body at different rates though?

LadyJogsAlot · 30/07/2008 22:12

not at all the same laugs.
one antiH tablet is not the same as taking coke/pills etc.

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:13

Oh my god i can't believe anyone would consider this? Why bother breastfeeding if your determined to get wasted on drugs, your better off formula feeding your baby. Why bother bf when there is a risk of harm to your baby. Just seems nuts to me!

And if just have to get wasted on drugs then you possibly have a problem. Why not wait until you are not bf?

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:16

I know people take drugs each to their own and that.

LadyJogsAlot · 30/07/2008 22:16

i agree with LMB.

i am not judging about drug taking in general. if that's what takes your fancy, so be it.

i do however think it's 100% wrong to bf and take drugs. if you need to do it then ff is the way for you.

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:17

just doesn't seem like responsible parenting, slippery slope and that.

Laugs · 30/07/2008 22:18

Maybe she wanted to know if there was a risk of harm to her baby, and if she found out there was no risk, then might consider it.

For example, it is recommended that it's better to smoke and BF than not to BF at all.

fishie · 30/07/2008 22:19

i am no expert but do gather that lots of 'proper' drugs say do not bf for no reason other than nobody has bothered to find out whether they cross into milk.

i imagine that a small amount of 'improper' drug will not cause a mighty problem for bf either. of course a full-on crack habit is another matter, but that isn't what the op asked.

some of them may be more risky than others, but since the general advice goes for cautious side on prescribed drugs then i should think an occasional recreational drug use won't = poison any more than a few glasses of cava does.

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:20

I am sying this as someone that dabbled as teenager with most drugs.

And knowing how out of control i felt at the time and completely rough the next day, I would never do it now that i have a baby, especially as i'm breastfeeding. I'm a parent now and see that as very important job that i don't want to f*&% up by taking drugs.

Original poster

mmelody · 30/07/2008 22:20

Littlemiss people take drugs... its a fact of life.. as far as I am concerned there is no black and white and plenty of grey areas..

I had a feeling it that people would go all daily mailesque on me.. cheers for the info folks {smile}

OP posts:

sweetkitty · 30/07/2008 22:21

As someone who has taken a fair few drugs in their time I stopped before having my first baby and would never take anything now even if I wasn't BFing.

I have a friend who took cocaine a few weeks after her baby was born but pumped and dumped her milk the day after, I would have thought it would have stayed in your system longer, I think she gave up BFing so she could take it more regularly, her choice I suppose.

LadyJogsAlot · 30/07/2008 22:24

oh dear, i really don't agree.
why risk it?

hypothetically, if someone slipped me something in my drink whilst out, maybe i would pump and dump for 48 hours.

but who knows? and any kind of reassuring about it probably won't do any harm occasionally will only encourage others to do so.

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:25

I know people take drugs, like i said i was one of them. I just think their is a time and place and risks. I think if they involve a baby it's not worth taking. No? Or formula feed instead. It's giving with one hand and taking with other. I'm sure you'll do what you want obviously. I'm just saying that it's really not for me.

Guadalupe · 30/07/2008 22:26

It's not really daily-mailesqe to say that you should wait until you stop breastfeeding to take illegal drugs is it?

You can't know whether it's ok or not by looking at studies because it's not ethical to do the studies.

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:26

the other

LadyJogsAlot · 30/07/2008 22:26

mmelody, i don't think it's getting mailesque. i'm trying to give you my opinion which is what you asked for.

question is: are you going to listen to anything anyone says?

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:28

there fecking spelling and typing

Slashtrophe · 30/07/2008 22:29

I had to go into A&E 48 hours after a c section (I was discharged from maternity ward after 24 hours and rapidly became really painful - probably from doing too much too soon), and both the A&E doc and the consultant they called down from Ob gynae gave me lots of morphine and a codeine based drug to go home with and said I should definitely keep bf - I did query it - so they must be stronger than street drugs? Not that I'm advocating it by any means...

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:29

Why don't you have a chat with you GP or health visitor if you feel that it's no biggie?

See what the health proffesionals say.

Original poster

mmelody · 30/07/2008 22:29

Cheers Laugs and fishie.. for the record.. I am BF (frequently) my 12 month old DS and would NEVER NEVER EVER take any drugs while still BF.But like you say sweetkitty there are people who maybe would like to take drugs and still breastfeed and there really is no info at all available.. not even to tell people to pump and dump.

OP posts:

LadyJogsAlot · 30/07/2008 22:30

ok, i'm going to bed.

mmelody, i hope you have a think about what people have said on this thread. it's not about us being old/square/daily mail readers (i'm not any of those things, honest!). you aren't the first person to have taken drugs or want to take drugs, baby or not.

i think you know what the right thing to do is.

LittleMissBliss · 30/07/2008 22:34

To be honest i don't think that many mothers who are trully commited to breast feeding would ever, ever consider taking drugs and bf. That's why people don't talk about it. And the people who do take the drugs i would hope have the inteligents to choose ff over bf.

Original poster

mmelody · 30/07/2008 22:35

I was not asking for opinions actually Lady.. just facts! and littlemiss I never said it was no biggie to BF and take drugs.. what I said was its a fact of life that people take drugs and its an emotive subject when BF is added to thre mix... I was merely interested and wondering... thats all

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3