pain relief after cs - breasfeeding

[negrilbaby]

I gave birth on wednesday by elective cs - DD 7lbs 11oz.
I had been taking paracetamol and a little orange tablet when handed them in hospital. When I got home I read the leaflet with the orange tablets - Diclofenac. The leaflet clearly states do not take while breastfeeding.
I'm not really sure what to do. Does anyone know what the concerns might be? What else have people taken/been prescribed for pain relief following cs?

Congratulations on the birth of your DD!

Diclofenac is routinely given to breastfeeding mothers. I believe it's entirely safe.

Nearly every medicine says on it 'do not give while breastfeeding'. I've seen it on cough syrup that had as its active ingredients treacle and menthol. It means 'if you use this med while breastfeeding, and something bad happens, you can't sue us. Neener neener'.

Just a sec, I'll find an actual convincing link about diclofenac (aka Voltarol) and breastfeeding.

Look here. Page three, near the top.

Good luck - and "ask MN" isn't a bad place to start for these sorts of questions!

(In future, if you have a breastfeeding-related problem (which this really counts as), it's better to post in Breast and Bottlefeeding, fwiw.)

I took diclofenac when I had my emcs with DS1 2 years ago and I breastfed for 7months! Didn't even read the label to be honest just trusted that maternity ward wouldn't be giving out stuff to breastfeeding mothers that wasn't suitable!
Dont worry

I questioned this when I got home after my ELCS 6 months ago - but not when I had my EMCS 3 years ago as I was breastfeeding too.

Midwife said that almost every drug has "Do not take while breastfeeding" on it because there are been very few studies on what the drugs actually do to breastfeeding women as not many breastfeeding women are prepared to be test subjects. That said - Dicofenac has been being given to breastfeeding Mums for years and years with no side effects reported and most women (me included x2) get no adverse side effects with it and neither do their babies.

Carry on taking the Diclofenac, it is a anti inflammatory and will make you feel much, much better.

Paracetamol probably says the same thing on it but this is also OK to take. Always worth check though just in case

The BNF says that while NSAIDs generally should be used with caution when breastfeeding, the amount of diclofenac that gets into breastmilk is too small to be a problem.

I have taken diclofenac after CS for both my DDs and was/am breastfeeding.
Congratulations BTW and hope you have a good recovery post CS and BF goes well too!

I had an ELCS on tues and just have ibuprofen and paracetamol. I believe ibuprofen is an NSAID but trust that the hospital know what they're doing.

A painkiller to avoid while breastfeeding is codeine. Diclofenac and paracetamol are standard issue.

I was given codeine after birth, lots...

Many thanks for all the congrats and reassuring replies.
I will continue taking the tablets - need all the help I can get with DS at 2.4 yrs also looking for attention.
Baby is feeding really well and all seems to be be going smoothly .... so far!