Nursing 2 yr old after general anesthesia

[Javi07]

I need to have a D & C under general anesthesia on Fri. My dr. keeps telling me I have to pump and dump for 24 hrs., but I can tell he's just repeating a line without listening to me (he's an OB/GYN; I have no relationship with him but he was on call when my midwife found the problem so I got stuck with him). I can't conceive of not nursing my son for 24 hrs. He will be inconsolable.
I know I don't need to pump with a 2 yr old, but I want to know if there are any types of anesthesia that would permit nursing a 26 lb. kid. Anyone had a similar experience?

[KristyDi]

From Kellymom

General anesthesia should not affect breastfeeding. You can safely nurse once you are awake and alert enough to hold your baby. By that time, the amount of medication in your bloodstream is low enough that the amounts in your milk would not be significant. The point at which you wake up after general anesthesia is the point where enough of the drug has left your system that it no longer has an effect. In addition, pediatric surgeries require anesthesia - and that is a more serious exposure than through mom's milk.

Think page linked above has links to more in-depth info. I hope this helps ease your mind and I'm sorry you have to deal with an ignorant, unhelpful OB at what I'm sure is an already stressful time. Best wish for a quick and smooth procedure and recovery.

[PatioGardener]

No need to pump at all. As soon as you are able to hold your child to nurse, you are able to nurse.

[butterfly_mommy]

I had to go under general anesthetic to have my son by c-section and there was no pumping and dumping and he was a lot less then 26 lbs (9 lbs 12 oz) and he was fine.

[LaurieG]

They recommended 24 hrs for me following gen anesthesia but after reading about the medication and talking it over more I came to the conclusion that a few hours would be sufficient. I recommend finding out the name of the medication and calling your local LLL leader who can read to you from the medication book what exactly the concerns would be for that medication. Then you can take that info the the doc and advocate for your situation.

The medication they used with me was propofol, fwiw. But just so you know, it has as its base soybean oil which my DD is terribly sensitive to. I didn't notice a bad reaction in her when I had the med (although at the time we hadn't figured out all of her triggers so she was always reacting somewhat) but later when she was given propofol for an MRI she reacted for nearly a week. So if you have a sensitive LO you'll want to look in to not only the effect of the active ingredients of the med but also what are the inactive ingredients.

Good luck!

[1babysmom]

After mine, I went home and nursed my LO's (8 months and 3 years at the time) as soon as they wanted to.