just saw this on BBC: Epidurals 'hamper breastfeeding'

[umami_mommy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6161727.stm

Having an epidural to relieve labour pains is associated with problems breastfeeding, a study suggests.

(interesting article, since only 20% of women in the UK have epidurals)

[mama~anna]

Yep, I know I have read more on the topic somewhere before, maybe my Breastfeeding Answer Book? Drugs during labor definitely affect baby. I was so against meds with my last two births that I didn't even taken tylenol after birth. This time I am definitely going to give in and take tylenol, I think the afterpains last time were worse than the birth itself. I am dreading the afterwards this time.

[umami_mommy]

drinking red raspberry leaf tea during pregnancy can help with afterbirh pains.

taking a tincture of black haw or cramp bark also helps.

there is also a compound mixture out there somewhere i know you can use, but i don't remember what it's called or where to get it... : maybe someone else knows....

[timneh_mom]

I had an epidural with my first (was induced with pit, in part due to my own ignorance but my blood pressure was also not responding to medication as well as it had been) and he was not sleepy from it... the one problem I did have was that I was swollen everywhere from all the IV fluids. My areolae were so swollen that he couldn't get latched on! The LC showed me how to massage it out of them and once I did that, he nursed well. We had some latch problems after that, but they were easily fixed with some help from the LC again.

My son has never really been a sleepy baby to start with though... in fact I really think he hates to sleep and always has. So maybe if I'd had a mellower baby, he would have been sleepier from the epidural?

[raeinparis]

i wound up with an epidural for ds as well because they gave me something to increase contractions when we stalled at 7 cm. plus it's france, an epidural is practically considered a right. the poor student midwife had never seen anyone labour without drugs for hours before...

anyway, ds was a great nurser too -- from the get-go. he was delivered onto me and we tried nursies straightaway. he, like liz's boy, isn't a big fan of sleeping but everyone in my family had nursed (mom, grandmother, keep going back) and i would have felt like i let the side down if i gave in because of pain or bleeding, cracked nipples.

i'm going to try to avoid an epidural again and the clinic i'm going to has a lower than normal rate of epidurals...at 76%!

[Daniel's Kitty]

I had an epidural and we almost had to stay an extra day to get bfing. I did stop nursing early since pregnancy yuckies were kicking my butt when he was 13 months.

[umami_mommy]

if you read the article, it shows it to be a long term issue. not so much problems at the beginning, but much more likely to quit early.

which tells me it's way more than just a matter of a sleepy baby. (which my son was born at home and was a sleepy baby and we had to work really hard to get him to nurse for a while)

[mama~anna]

Originally Posted by honeybeedreams

drinking red raspberry leaf tea during pregnancy can help with afterbirh pains.

taking a tincture of black haw or cramp bark also helps.

there is also a compound mixture out there somewhere i know you can use, but i don't remember what it's called or where to get it... : maybe someone else knows....

I drank my RRL tea last time and also take a prenatal with RRL. Maybe I should start drinking really strong RRL tea. I also took arnica but pains were still SO bad. I will definitely look into that tincture.

[illinoismommy]

I had that experience.... I had an epidural with my first and he got the sleepy-baby thing they talk about half way through.