Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Infant feeding

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

Original poster

Surgery and Breastfeeding. Advice needed, becoming distressed.

18 replies

trixibelle · 13/02/2009 21:55

Has anyone else had surgery whilst exclusively feeding baby. Worried about expressing, milk supply, baby taking bottle, not being able to have baby with me during night in hospital. List goes on...

OP posts:
EldonAve · 14/02/2009 08:25

bumping for you

TigerFeet · 14/02/2009 08:35

my friend BabiesEverywhere was in this position... hang on and I'll get her to come and advise

Babieseverywhere · 14/02/2009 08:36

Yes, seperated from exclusively breastfed baby for a week when she was 4 months old and a week when she was 6 months old.

I had DH and DM and DF bring DD in to the hospital as much as possible during the day so I could cry bond and nurse her direct.

I had a photo of DD and a blanket she had slept in to help my letdown so expressing was easier to do. My DH also brought me an electric pump to use.

The nurses were good about storing the milk in their ward fridge until it was needed. My visitors cleaned my pump and refilled my cold water steriliser.

CHECK THE DRUGS YOU ARE OFFERED. I was told WRONGLY that I had to pump and dump whilst being on some drugs That was wrong and a waste of milk. Very few drugs have to be avoided whilst nursing.

I had lower level painkillers during the day whlst I was nursing and pumping and the more effective stronger painkillers at night after my last pumping session of the day.

HTH

Babieseverywhere · 14/02/2009 08:37

TF, lol, Crosspost

TigerFeet · 14/02/2009 08:38

lol, I should have known you'd be about

Hope your surgery goes well trixiebelle

Babieseverywhere · 14/02/2009 08:39

Check with the PALS department of your local hospital, some hospitals will let you bring the baby in with you full time.

Most babies can use cups if they reject bottles. I was lucky that DD did take a bottle of expressed milk.

Original poster
trixibelle · 14/02/2009 19:57

Thanks for the replies. Have been really stressing out about it as I find expressing difficult. Just getting everything together to try and express to build up a supply.
Was your milk supply ok, Babieseverywhere and how often did you have to express before surgery and during times apart? Sorry so many questions.

OP posts:
Babieseverywhere · 14/02/2009 21:02

I expressed morning and night, i.e. Twice. But I kept swapping sides when the flow slows down and compressing my breasts. Plus I was nursing direct most of the day. The actual day of surgery and a day after I didn't express atall I was on a morphine drip and in far too much pain to pump...could of nursed direct (women after CS nurse on morphine) but I was wrongly told I couldn't.

Supply seemed fine to be honest. I was on the verge of organ failure, bright yellow and throwing up frequently due to a stuck gall stone. I wasn;t eating and on a drip and I kept my milk.

How old is your baby ? How long will you be in hospital ? Do you know what drugs you will be offered ?

Original poster
trixibelle · 14/02/2009 21:44

Baby is 4 months also. Have been told I'll be in hospital for 3 days, also for gall bladder removal. Not sure about drugs yet. Did you try bottle/cup before you went in or just leave it for relatives to manage?

OP posts:
Babieseverywhere · 14/02/2009 23:29

Sorry to hear you are having gall bladder problems, it is very painful

I went in as an emergency A&E admission so didn't have chance to plan anything Luckily she had a bottle of expressed breast milk from DH previously and had took it fine and I had some milk in the freezer.

Have you spoken to PALs ? Some hospitals will let you stay with your baby in maternity and that way you won't need to leave any milk.

My nurses got me a side room so that my baby could be with me most of the day but I knew I would have to move if it was needed for someone else.

Do you have a date for surgery ? Do you have time to start expressing now to freeze the milk ?

Original poster
trixibelle · 15/02/2009 00:03

So far hospital have said that baby can't stay at night, even with another adult present. There is no maternity attached to the hospital. If things don't improve, will maybe have to try elsewhere. Surgery will be within next few weeks, so have time to try and express. What is PALS? How long was it before you were able to feed after the surgery?

OP posts:
Babieseverywhere · 15/02/2009 08:42

I was told the wrong information about the drugs I was given. Tiktok (expert on these boards) has said that once you are awake from the general. the drugs are out of your system enough to nurse a baby. So you should be able to nurse straight away.

It is tricky as I found the doctors and nurses not very knowledgable about breastfeeding friendly drugs but they were willing to ring the local maternity unit for information. If a newborn could tolerate the mother on certain medication than a healthy 4 month old should be fine.

As I mentioned in my last post, we also 'timed' some pain meds. i.e. I would take them after my last pumping session in the evening, so I could sleep and it would be out of my system by the time my baby came in for her morning nurse.

As I said earlier new mothers feed newborn whilst being on morphine and your baby is a healthy bigger stronger 4 month old and should have no problem with morphine. All the rest of the drugs they gave me were the breastfeeding friendly ones.

Here is a list of leaflets on different medicines www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/drugline-information-and-factsheets.html and this is a specific helpline re Drugs in Breastmilk.
0844 412 4665

PALS is Patient And Liason Services is a department in many hospitals who should help patients which issues such as the one you face

Babieseverywhere · 15/02/2009 08:50

It wasn't easy but it is doable and continuing to nurse really helped me deal with being seperated from my baby. Sadly my op went wrong and was converted to an open and then got infected and I still managed to nurse throughout both week hospital stays. We didn't run out of milk so I didn't need to use formula (important to me as there are cow milk allergies in DH's family)

Hopefully you will have a much easier time of it, I think a simple straight forward keyhole op you can be out as quickly as 2 days !!!

In fact I am still nursing my daughter who is know 2.6 year old and my DS who is 6 months old.

Babieseverywhere · 15/02/2009 08:51

know now

Thevelveteenrabbit · 15/02/2009 08:53

Make sure you speak to your anaesthetist before the surgery.
If any one is querying about the safety of breast feeding get them to speak to the pharmacy dept - specifically the Medicines Information Pharmacist - all hospitals should have one. Docs are more likely to listen to them - also make sure they tell them that your baby is 4 months old and healthy. 4 months old means they have more matured excretory functions than a newborn and the risk of them accummulating meds because they can't excrete them is reduced.

chandellina · 15/02/2009 12:55

i had a GA last week (for day surgery) and the anesthetist said I could BF as soon as I got home. So three hours later I was BFing. I've been on Dicoflenac for pain relief since.

Original poster
trixibelle · 15/02/2009 21:37

Thanks everyone for your replies. It's great to have all that information because sometimes it seems there is lack of understanding/awareness about breastfeeding in non-maternity units. Feel much more empowered to stand up for myself and determined to continue feeding.

OP posts:
Babieseverywhere · 16/02/2009 07:22

All the best. I hope your op goes well and you get home as quickly as possible.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page