Cough medicine and BFing?

[kismetbaby]

Anyone know if couch medicine is safe while BFing?

I have a 15mo who still nurses quite a lot and after we all battled the stomach flu here, I have now developed a drippy nose and tickly cough. In the past, this kind of nasal drip w/ cough has led to a very persistent cough with bronchial inflammation (this has happened to me at least 3 or 4 times in winters past).  When this has happened the only way to get rid of it has been codiene cough syrup at night along with a heavy duty antihistamine and then the use of a steriod inhaler during the day to keep my airways open.  Is any of this going to be doable while BFing???

I assume the the inhaler is out, but what about the cough meds and antihistamines?

Any other advice on getting rid of such a cough?

[CallMeMommy]

I think it's decongestants that are bad, they work by drying up excess secretions, which in turns dries up your milk.  I've been told plain old Mucinex without any of the add-ons is safe (and took it a few weeks postpartum with this last baby and didn't notice any affect on my milk supply).  I don't know about the antihistamines and inhalers, hopefully someone more knowledgeable will pipe in.

[PatioGardener]

Yeah, pseudoepherine will dry up milk, but inhalers etc should be OK I would think.  You need to post the exact name of the medication and hopefully someone can look it up in Hales for you.

Or you could search it out on amazon.com: 

http://www.amazon.com/Medications-Mothers-Milk-Lactational-Pharmacology/dp/0981525725/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294097643&sr=8-2

kellymom: http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/cold-remedy.html