Painkillers - Does anyone else have a midwife that is worryingly in the dark?

[Beans1234]

I am 17 weeks pregnant today and also had my midwife appointment. All fine apart from an extremely painful wisdom tooth, which after a dentist appointment, was told to see if the gum swelling went down and just to take painkillers (they didn't advise antibiotics and wisdom tooth out may be a little traumatic). I'm obviously a little concerned I'm having to even take a normal dosage of of paracetamol (for about a week now) so I asked my midwife her advice. she proceeded to say, "oh don't worry, take as many as you want, why don't you have ibuprofen and why would they they not give you antibiotics or even better take your tooth out?!". I do know you can have your teeth out pregnant and that paracetamol are safe (sparingly) but heard Ibuprofen was a complete "no no" (REF: NHS website). So this is a bit of a two pronged question - any advice on the tooth/painkiller matter, combined with, am I wrong to think the midwife should be a little bit better informed?

I pulleda muscle in my back while b/feeding and was prescribed heavy duty ibuprofen (horsetranquilisers DH called them!) stronger than you can buy over counter. I know its not the same as when pg but they try and scare you off self prescribing when pg, I would go back and ask about antibiotics - there are some you can take

I wouldn't worry about the paracetamol as long as you don't exceed the daily dose. I understand why you are concerned but wisdom teeth can be very painful so don't suffer more than you need to.

Personally I wouldn't recommend ibuprofen in pregnancy but the main issues appear to be in the first and third trimesters so hopefully that's where the MW is coming from.

I agree if you are still in pain ask for antibiotics most but not all are ok in pregnancy. Ibuprofen is OK in bf unless the baby has an allergy.

The nhs book says ibuprofen is ok in the second trimester only.

I found Boots teething powders or Ashton and Parsons helped a bit with toothache, but there is a lot of dental work they can do while you're pregnant. I had root canal surgery last time, and the only thing they couldn't do was an x-ray.

cool thanks. to be honest, it was more in the delivery (to pardon the pun) of the midwife. There wasn't any reference about different effects of drugs in certain trimesters. I commented that I'd read that you're not supposed to take Ibuprofen and she just replied with, "oh, ok, I'll remember that one, I didn't know sorry". I'm going to give it a few days and see how I get on, keep on swilling with the corsodyl and taking my paracetamol. Still a bit wary about the latter though, just don't like the idea that bambino is getting a good dose of painkiller also.

I was very worried abouot taking painkillers the doctor gave me for back problems as i didn't want the baby getting any drugs but next time i went back to the doctors i told him i only take them if i really can't cope with the pain. Doc looked at me like 'dafty' and pointed out that when you are in a lot of pain you get very stressed out and the stress hormones are actually a lot worse for baby than pain killers. Makes sense to me so have been taking the pain killers and i think you should too don't want stressed out babies!

I'd ask for anti biotics from the doctor too after i had a tooth out about 8 weeks the dentist told me he wasn't confident in giving antibiotics during pregnancy and asked that i speak to my doc to get some. Might be the same thing??

Good Luck

I wouldn't worry about taking paracetamol or antibiotics, if prescribed by your doctor, as not all antibiotics are considered safe, but obviously some are.

Your midwife sounds a bit ditzy, but then my midwife, when I asked if I could colour my hair while pregnant, suggested I consulted my hairdresser. Go figure.

You can take ibuprofen, just not in the last 3 months. There are also antibiotics you can take, so your midwife is not totally in the wrong.