Pain relief after CS seems to be a bloody lottery and it makes me furious.
I think women having planned CS's should have pre-op discussions about what kind of pain relief they are having and how often. At least you would get a chance to discuss this (and argue if need be) BEFORE you were in pain.
I had co-codamol and diclofenac, with no mention of problems bf-ing, and I experienced none. (fgs, you get women having VBs being given PETHIDINE, which has a direct effect on a baby's alertness and can affect bf-ing. If you can give a woman having a VB pethidine, why not a CS mother co-codamol??)
My pain relief post CS was totally fine as long as I was getting the 2 painkillers on time. Unfortunately 24 hours after my op, midwives refused to give me a dose of the diclofenac or co-codamol I was due. To this day, I don't know exactly why - initially they said I had already had it on the recovery ward - I hadn't, it wasn't in my notes and I got them to ring up and check with the MWs up there.
Having established that I was right, and I WAS due a dose, they then said they didn't want to give it to me because 'sometimes painkillers can mask symptoms of something going wrong". WTF. They gave me 2 paracetamol and when I said that wasn't enough, a MW sneered 'well CSections do hurt, you know.'
The 2 MWs had real attitude towards me because my Cs was recorded as maternal request on my notes. Despite their being a letter in my notes from a perinatal psychiatrist about why I was having the CS (extreme tokophobia) they just rolled their eyes at each other and pulled faces. When they were right in front of me.
Several hours later I was in considerable pain. They had refused my partner's requests for more painkillers several times, and so eventually I got out of bed and walked with extreme difficulty and in intense pain the few metres to the MWs desk. There were three of them there - it was quiet, early hours of the morning and they were discussing another colleague's holiday.
I broke down and begged them for painkillers. I was shivering with pain. One of them got me some Tramadol. Tramadol! if they'd given me the painkillers I was SUPPOSED to have, I would not have needed something that heavy duty, which I was worried would be bad for Bf-ing.
I told my (great) community MW about this when I was out of hospital. She was quite upset, and looked into it for me. She told me that they said they hadn't been given the right info by the recovery ward, but i knew that we had cleared that up quite quickly, and told her. She said that some of the MWs were hostile to women to had planned CS,s and this was a problem they needed to sort out. Well, yeah.
If I have another baby, it will be a CS, and I will have some serious conversations about painkillers and care beforehand.
I had excellent ante-natal and post natal care, thanks mainly to a wonderful community mw and consultant MW. But the feeling of having to rely on 2 hostile MWs, who were my only means to painkillers, being in pain and feeling so helpless and panicky is not one I can repeat. It makes me angry and sick to think about it. They were like bullying girls in a playground - these women had no place in a caring profession. (btw, the hospital in question had had a lot of trouble with the maternity unit, and a 'bullying culture' was found to be one of the problems. I assumed this mean bullying between staff, but perhaps not).
Op I am very glad you have your baby - congratulations and I'm sorry you are not offered co-codamol. The idea that co-codamol might affect breastfeeding but being in constant pain won't is fucking lunacy.