Please can someone help...need to go cold turkey with Bf and ds is crying.

[Flightputsonahat]

Sorry, just hoping someone can reassure me or advise...
story is I had to take antibiotics for recurrnt mastitis and they have given me a nasty infection (c diff causes it apparently) which means I'm in a fair bit of pain and had to get a different antibiotic to kill off this...so...

can't feed while on this one apparently.

Ds2 is 14 months and has never taken a bottle - he's not bad with a sports cap with water in, but anything with milk or a normal bottle he just refuses and cries.

I don't know what to do, am feelin pretty desperate, have bought some SMA progress to try and tempt him but he won't.

Just want to get out my boob and sort him out but I'm not allowed.

Just crying here, sorry. It seems so unfair on him.

Who says you can't?
You need to contact breastfeeding Network to check.
I doubt it.

well he needs calcium so yogurts and cheese and green leafy veg and red meats etc

water is fine

he's 14 months he'll be fine with just water to drink

neither of mine would drink 'milk' for a good 6 months after stopping BF

I'm sorry you have to do this

he'll be fine

I once watched Carrie and Justine wean a child off the breast and they did it with a combination of distraction, a special cup and hot chocolate. Whenever child was at the top they started a game etc. Took the child to the shop and bought its own 'special' big boy cup and gave nice warm milky drinks at bedtime etc. Yoghurts and cheese and stuff through the day. After about a week this had worked and child had forgotten about the breast. V sad that you are having to give up because of this, poor you. But hoping it will all be ok soon.

Moondog the GP said, it's metronidazole.

I don't know if he's right or not.

Thanks Twig. Just so so upsetting.

Hmm, i would query that. Most GPsknow nowt about this and just say no to everything. Where isTiktok when we needher!

Thanks singyswife too, I will have to put in some effort to distract the little guy I think! Really don't feel up to this today, been up all night on loo

Now got to drive to Dr again to get liquid version of tablets as I can't swallow the buggers.

What do I do with all the milk btw - my boobs are going to be like plasticine.

I've never expressed...don't know how!

sorry bumping cos I'm so clueless

Flightputsonahat - could you try one of the breastfeeding support lines - you may well find that your GP is wrong about the incompatibility with breastfeeding?

Ok will do, thanks...will try to find number.

According to the jack newmann website

The following are a few commonly used drugs considered safe during breastfeeding:
? Acetaminophen (Tylenol, Tempra), alcohol (in reasonable amounts), aspirin (in usual doses, for short periods). Most antiepileptic medications, most antihypertensive medications, tetracycline, codeine, nonsteroidal antiinflammatory medications (such as ibuprofin), prednisone, thyroxin, propylthiourocil (PTU), warfarin, tricyclic antidepressants, sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), other antidepressants, metronidazole (Flagyl), omperazole (Losec), Nix, Kwellada.

So I would just give it to him.

Here's the whole article if you want it

www.thebirthden.com/Newman.html

It's under you should continue breastfeeding (1) drugs and breastfeeding

I'dfollow Jack Newmannmore readily than numpty GP.

Flightputsonahat - it's so common for GPs to get this wrong unfortunately. I was told by my GP I'd have to stop feeding when dd1 was just a week old because of a drug he was going to prescribe for retained placenta - turned out to be utter rubbish, and my midwives were furious.

I'd also trust Jack Newman more than GP!!

NCT line is: 0870 444 8708
La Leche: 0845 120 2918

Good luck.

Thankyou all, I looked at the site - it doesn't say what dosage is Ok though? I'm on quite a high one.

lso another drug info website said it isn't defined as either safe or unsafe, but studies showed it was carcinogenic to rats so I am a bit concerned about that aspect tbh.?

Oh dear.

Well good news is he sat and had some yogurt for lunch followed by a drink of water and seems to have stopped rooting for the time being.

He might not go to sleep tonight though.

Would like to walk under a bus today I feel so crap. I hope a/b's kick in quickly anyway, you never know

pidge thanks v much for the number, I'd tried about 3 others before yours and got through finally to NCT

She's ringing me back about the metronidazole, was really kind about everything - I might have to express etc. but she thought supply is so established it's unlikely it'd stop in just a week. So that is good anyway.

Glad you got through. Poor you, what an ordeal. Can someone else put your ds to bed tonight so you're not around? I found my kids coped fine without a final bedtime feed if ever I happened to be out, but of course wanted it if I was there.

Take care.

According to "Medications and Mother's Milk" which is the book of reference for health professionals:

Metronidazole absorption is time and dose dependant and also depends on the route of administration (oral vs vaginal). Following a 2gm oral dose, milk levels were reported to peak at 50-57mg/L at 2 hours. Milk levels after 12 hours were approximately 19mg/L and at 24 hours were approx 10mg/L. If breastfeeding were to continue uninterupted, an infant would consume 21.8 mg via breastmilk. With a 12 hour discontinuation, an infant would consume only 9.8 mg.......IN a group of 12 nursing mothers recieving 400mg 3 times daily......no adverse effects were attribuatble to metronidazole therapy in these infants.

Lactation risk: L2 (L1 is safest - L2 is safer: drug which has been studied in limited number of breastfeeding women without an increase in adverse effects in the infant. It goes up to L5 which is contraindicated).

I hope this helps.

I took metronidazole whilst breastfeeding. It was for a tooth infection, so I don't know the strength. DD1 was only 5 months, she was more unsettled (but she was 5 months, they are always unsettled!).

Apparently, it does get into breastmilk, so the manufactuers state to avoid large, single doses. I don't know how "large" that means, though.

Thankyou...does that mean if I only feed him some times and use water etc others, he'll get less of it?

Not very scientific brain

I just spoke to the counsellor again and she said he should be fine. I held out though he was really upset/tired, but then fed him for about 2 minutes and he went to sleep which was all he wanted to do really.

I don't know how we'll get on tonight as he dreamfeeds a lot still (esp recently as teething) so have had disturbed nights anyway.

Poor mite.

Will give him a big supper and see if that helps!
Thanks very much for all your trouble helping me out xx

ps he has sent a definite thumbs down to SMA progress!!

I think some went in...

I would continue to feed as normal. I have recently had major surgery and was taking strong pain medication for 6 months and continued to BF. At 14 months LO will not be as affected as a newborn.
It's shocking that your GP has told you to stop BFing. It's lazy practice. There is plenty more he could do to reassure you. Would he have acted the same if you had just given birth? Have you had advice on keeping up supply or preventing engorgement?

That's good Lynsey. I think he is just always quite 'aggressive' in his approach - probably assumed I would sort the bfing out as a side issue.
I guess a lot of Drs don't have time to do everything for their patients.
It did come across as pretty callous but then tbh he has had some sad things happen several years ago, involving losing a child I believe, so perhaps this is just his way of dealing with it. I try not to see him these days if I have the choice, there are much more sympathetic ones at the surgery.

I had some fab advice from an NCT helpline this afternoon, as well - I don't really understand the mechanics of a gradual withdrawal from Bfing, ie why expressing a little helps ease engorgement while I thought it would just create more supply iyswim.

Still not sure what the plan is, but at least I've the option to ease off gradually rather than just stop, thanks to the people who have helped me today.

Flight - it depends what you want to do, but you may find that you can go back to feeding more again when you are off the ABs.

I was down to feeding DS about once a day when he was 21 months when he suddenly got a nasty gastro bug. For about 3 days he was solely bf, as it was the only thing he could keep down. My milk supply definitely ramped up as he was having plenty of wet nappies, and to my astonishment a bright yellow bm poo (thought I'd seen the last of them!).

So it doesn't need to be completely the end...

Hope this round of ABs sorts out your mastitus & infection - sounds nasty

I would feed as usual - he is 14 months, not tiny. What dosage are you on, btw?

I found a page that said:

Breastfeeding mothers can be treated with low dose metronidazole courses (200-400mg three times daily) without concern of untoward effects on the nursing infant. Metronidazole may change the taste of the breast milk; therefore the infant should be monitored for signs of poor feeding.In general, medicines should be avoided by mothers? breastfeeding premature or low birth weight infants, or in infants who have any underlying medical conditions. The decision to treat should always be based on a risk versus benefit evaluation in each individual case.

It's from an NHS document. Basically, your child is 14 months, he's not a newborn, I really wouldn't sweat it.