Currently, the natural feeding of newborns and children of the first months of life is more popular than mixed or artificial, which until recently attracted young mothers with its lightness and ease. Therefore, more and more doctors have to answer the question of whether or not they can give certain drugs, for example, painkillers when breastfeeding.
The problem is that some medications that have an analgesic effect on the body can inhibit the secretion of milk. In addition, it is known that the drug will inevitably pass into breast milk , and from there into the baby’s body. Not in every case, the doctor will be able to unequivocally answer how the drug will affect the children's body, most of the enzymatic systems of which have not yet fully formed.
How do drugs affect the body?
Most modern women know that painkillers should not be taken during breastfeeding without consulting a doctor - in the vast majority of cases, drugs of this pharmacological group, when ingested, have a negative effect on blood formation in the child’s body, on the nervous system, and liver cells. That is why so often when taking analgesics, especially combination preparations, toxic reactions occur in the child - jaundice, excessive drowsiness, and violation of sucking may appear.
Basically, the clinical effects that occur in both adult and children's organisms proceed the same way, and drugs accumulate in the same organs and tissues. But in an adult, due to more adipose tissue, a depot of the drug can be created there, while in a child of the first months of life, all chemicals immediately after entering the body are included in metabolic processes. That is why the advice that can be seen on many online forums that recommends taking a small dose of any drug to achieve the goal (pain relief of any location) becomes completely meaningless. Perhaps this dose will be insufficient for the mother, while an amount sufficient to get a side effect in the baby will have time to get into the milk.
Situations in which the appointment of painkillers is required: how not to make a mistake
Only a doctor who can assess the potential benefits for the mother and the risk for the baby should decide whether painkillers are needed for breastfeeding or not, and establish a diagnosis that requires the appointment of the right drug. If a single use of the drug is required in the event of acute and really unbearable pain, then the doctor can prescribe almost any medication provided that several breastfeeds are missed and mother's milk is replaced with a mixture.
In the same case, when painkillers are needed in oncology, then there should be no talk about the continuation of breastfeeding . The child should be transferred to feeding the mixture according to age, and the mother should undergo a full examination and treatment of the identified disease. In this situation, it is important to remember that the baby, of course, needs breast milk and is important for normal development, but a healthy and healthy mother is much more necessary for him. Breastfeeding should still be discarded when taking cytostatics, antitumor drugs, radiological drugs.
In the event that painkillers are needed during menstruation, then to continue the pain, breastfeeding should be continued - it will help overcome the pain syndrome. Sucking a baby reflexively stimulates the release of oxytocin in the body of a woman. The uterus contracts more strongly under its influence, blood stagnation is not created and the pain decreases, and after it disappears completely.
In the case when painkillers for breastfeeding are needed after surgical delivery, the doctor can prescribe the necessary drug once, most often from the group of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.