Meptid and side effects

[Lovage]

My local hospital offers Meptid not Pethidine. Does anyone know what the side effects of Meptid are? Are they similar to Pethidine? Specifically, does it cause drowsiness in the baby which can lead to difficulties in establishing breastfeeding?

Any info or leads much appreciated

I believe that it is better for baby (i.e. doesn't cause the drowsiness of pethidine).

I am sure that someone will be along with more authorative knowledge.

I had meptid and pethidine . Meptid given before I was taken to the delivery suite as I was in so much pain (dd back to back, little madam!) then pethidine some time later. It's all a bit of a blur to be honest. I liked the pethidine to be honest, I was so tired and spaced out comepletely between contractions, it was great!

And dd was fine, but then they had said 'baby will be out within an hour', and three hours later when dd arrived (by ventouse) I think the pethidine had worn off.

They really were rather crap in my opinion!

Just read back my first post, sounds like it was a breeze doesn't it

I'm sure it was a breeze! (not)

I had Meptid at about 8cm when transferring to hospital (was meant to be homebirth) and thought it really helped - seemed to mean I only felt the peak of each contraction and made the ambulance journey and my distress about having to go into hospital at all manageable. But now I'm wondering whether that contributed to difficulties establishing breastfeeding. Planning for next time, if there is one...

Our hospital offers Meptid too, was told it is better as it doesn cross the placenta.
xx

I had peth with ds1 and meptid with dd - peth was not so good, meptid was better for both pain relief and no probs with bf at all - she latched straight on and hasn't let go yet, 7 weeks on. good luck

The hospital I went to with first DD only gave Meptid as there were supposed to be no ill effects to the baby but I wasn't confident about how much pain relief it gave me. It had to be topped up about 5 times but it took the edge off I guess. Actually found G & A to be better but Meptid doesn't have any effects on establishing BF that I've heard of. My DD had no probs whatsoever and I'd had my full quota of the stuff!

UK Midwifery archives - Meptid v Pethidine

I requested meptid-mt hospital doesn't (or didn't) have it, so my doctor had to prescribe it and I had to keep it in my fridge prior to labour!
I chose it because it doesn't cross the placenta as much, so not so much effect on baby, it worked like a dream with DS1, but I didn't find it as good with DS2 (completely differnt birth experience though, the midwife had a personality that made me panic!) I was very sick in labour both times but I think that is just my body in labour asI was a bit sick before meptid

My personal experience of administering meptid years ago was that the side effects were pretty similar to pethidine and that babies did get affected. Meptid fell out of favour a number of years ago - we no longer stock it.

Lovage - does your unit have a birthing pool? Much better than any drugs

Mears - yes hospital does have birthing pool but I was meant to be having a homebirth (had pool at home and spent 14 hrs in it from 5cm until got stuck at 8cm). It was fantastic but when I did have to transfer to hospital the Meptid really helped (no room for birthpool in ambulance!). I'm just wondering whether the Meptid could have contributed to our difficulties getting bfing started, but it sounds like it shouldn't have.

Oh I see. I think Meptid went out of favour because there were side effects similar to Pethidine to be honest.