Cold medicine while breastfeeding

[Livingoffcoffee]

What can I take? Anything other than paracetamol?

My LO has given me his horrible cold and I'm feeling very sorry for myself now...He's 10mo, so doesn't feed really during the day anymore - so am I okay to at least take something as long as it's 4hrs till I feed him again?

I've read somewhere that the concern with Day Nurse is more about it effecting your supply (which is NOT an issue for me!). Is that right?

You definitely can't have anything with decongestant in it is it dries everything up.

Also I'd be very wary of caffeine/phenylalanine.

It's miserable when you can't turn to your usual remedies. I stuck to paracetamol and ibuprofen. Antihistamines can help cold symptoms as well (but check their suitability for BF).

Otherwise it's plenty of hot drinks and allow yourself to rest when you can rather than scurrying around doing chores.

Absolutely no decongestants. It will affect supply.

Not much is safe, paracetamol... boil ginger and honey and lemon together.

I've never had a supply issue when using it (only taken the ones that might cause that) but mine also ate a lot in the day at that age so I thought the risk of lower milk levels was temporarily worth it.

@GummyGoddess I'll admit that's what I was hoping to hear...So your LO didn't have any issues when you took something?

I’d weigh up whether these cold medicines really make enough of a discernible difference to be worth the risk. I had my a cold last week, my first since stopping BF and was delighted to be able to take Sudafed for the first time in nearly 3 years and then was less than bowled over by the effects on my symptoms.

I had 3-4 hours of relief from the symptoms after a hot shower though so that could be worth a try.

No, he fed a bit more than usual which I assumed was due to the drop in production but it fixed itself within a day or so. I'm still feeding him at 19 months so no long term damage to my supply, however he is my second baby so not sure if that has any bearing.

I actually have a cole at the moment and I'm using Otrivine which is amazing.

Decongestants are recommended to help when you totally stop breastfeeding.

Is it worth the risk when a steamy shower, some olbus oil and a hot drink would do as much good?

OP, there is a breastfeeding site called e-lactancia you put the ingredient in the search bar and it will tell you the risks while breastfeeding. I found it quite useful when i breastfed mine

www.e-lactancia.org/breastfeeding/pseudoephedrine/product/

@WeirdPookah I can promise that a steamy shower, olbas oil and a hot drink have done absolutely nothing. When I get sick, I get proper sick, unfortunately.

@TheMovingFishfinger That's super helpful, thank you!

I took Lemsip while bf out of desperation with a stinking cold and it affected my supply. I usually tend towards oversupply and I can tell you the effect was noticeable and a bit scary. Plus the effect on my cold symptoms was frankly nada. I got better relief from Vicks on a tissue (can't apply to skin as obviously can't risk it getting into contact with baby!) And the aforementioned steamy showers.