what painkillers are okay to take when breastfeeding?

[cottonwood]

I'm exclusively breastfeeding a six-week-old, and tomorrow I'm going to have a wisdom tooth extracted. I *have* to do this, as it's causing me a lot of pain. I assume that in the next few days (especially right afterwards) I'll feel the need for some pain relief, and pumping isn't an option. How much Tylenol and Advil is it safe to take? What about narcotics?

[OTMomma]

I'm no expert here, so hopefully another mom here can give you more advice. But I do know that acording to my LC Advil does not get into your milk, so that is a good choice. Good luck with your surgery.

[Kleine Hexe]

Tylenol is ok....but may not be strong enough for tooth extraction. Call an LLL leader or a LC and have them look up meds your dentist can give you.

[OTMomma]

Oh, you can alternate taking advil and tylnol on a staggered 4 hour schedule, so you take advil at 1, tylonol at 3, advil again at 5, tylonol at 7 etc. I've done this before, but I was reluctant to suggest it unless someone else felt tylonol was OK. But it really did help with pain.

[pinky]

LOL, these questions always make me chuckle when I think about all the Percoset I was taking after my c-section!

Advil should be a great choice for you--very very little gets into breastmilk.

[TiredX2]

LOL, these questions always make me chuckle when I think about all the Percoset I was taking after my c-section!

That's what I was going to encourage you to keep in mind--- women who are laboring/have just given birth are given some pretty hard core drugs. Be careful w/the amount you take and baby's reaction. If you can, call your pediatrician and have them recommend a drug that is okay for infant pain relief-- then you "know" its okay.

Hope your tooth extractions goes as well as a tooth extraction can go!

[Sailmom]

I agree with the previous post about staggering advil and tylenol. You can take up to 2 grams of tylenol in a 24 hour period (2 extra strenght every 6 hours) and you could take up to 1000mg of Advil every 8 hours. If you don't take them at the same time you should be fine. I would advise filling a presciption for Percocet if you get one - one at bedtime or in the morning when you get up may make the difference and considering that is what my midwife gave to me without any reservations after birth, it won't hurt the baby in small doses. Do keep in mind that percocet has tylenol in it and use that in place of a tylenol dose.

HTH