Colds and extended breastfeeding

[physmom]

Do the same rules for medicines that are OK or not during breastfeeding apply when you're nursing a, say, 20 month old? I have a pretty nasty cold and it would be nice to be able to take some dayquil... I heard that it can affect for supply. Would it just lower my supply or could it dry it up completely? We are trying to get DD to slowly wean with the goal being around 2 (but we're pretty flexible and certainly don't have a date set). So if it just lowers my supply I might consider taking it... but if it dries me up completely than no. I'm pretty miserable here and DH is completely out of it (he has asthma and colds really get to him), so I've got a toddler to take care of and DH. Does anybody know?

[bender]

From what an LC told me, it can either lower or dry up your supply. If you've got tons of milk, it'll probably just lower it. If you are on the low end, it might dry it up completely. I don't know how easy it would be to build the supply back up again. If you want to keep nursing, I probably wouldn't risk it. Maybe Kellymom has some other options for medicine?

[physmom]

Originally Posted by bender

From what an LC told me, it can either lower or dry up your supply. If you've got tons of milk, it'll probably just lower it. If you are on the low end, it might dry it up completely. I don't know how easy it would be to build the supply back up again. If you want to keep nursing, I probably wouldn't risk it. Maybe Kellymom has some other options for medicine?

Thanks, well, it turns out it's a non-issue because my cold seems to have cleared up but DH and DD are still sick. I've always had an oversupply if anything... hmm... I just wish I knew for sure for the future, though.