Codeine in early pregnancy, worried I've hurt my baby :(

[CobaltRose]

Hi everyone,

I'm about five weeks pregnant and suffer from migraines and severe headaches quite often, have done for years. Doctor reckons it's genetic as my dad gets them too. The only painkiller that even touches the pain is codeine. I don't take codeine until the pain is unbearable as I know it can become addictive.

Up until last night I was lucky and hadn't had an 'attack' for several weeks, but last night I woke up in the middle of the night with a horrific headache! I could barely see straight it was so painful. Almost without thinking I took 60mg of codeine and went back to bed. My headache has now gone but I'm panicking thinking I've hurt my baby! There's conflicting advice online: some sources say codeine is fine in moderation but other sources say to avoid it completely during pregnancy. AARRGH

This is my first pregnancy so I'm already worrying about everything haha. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

Codeine is prescribed to pregnant women - it’s totally safe! Don’t worry!

Codiene is safe in pregnancy - I take it for migraine pain and also for hip pain.

It's not recommended late in pregnancy because it can slow the respiratory rate of baby at the birth.

You haven't damaged your baby. I was prescribed codeine during pregnancy and just told to stay off it during the last couple of weeks as it can slow newborn's breathing at birth.

I get that worry.

I have IIH (Idiopathic intracranial hypertension) and just finished a 18 week migrane that I'm unable to take the meds for during pregnancy.

You get 4head for headaches etc that may help but codine is fine in pregnancy.

Thanks everyone, you've put my mind at rest!

Like I said, this is my first pregnancy so everything is scary and unknown

Dihydrocodeine is where you may be getting confused OP. It is recommended that later in pregnancy and if breastfeeding dihydrocodeine is used instead of codeine phosphate as less transfers in breastmilk.