Please help! Medication/stop nursing question!

[puddinnpeanut]

So I just got back from the doctor and apparently I have strep throat! Does anyone have a copy of medication and mother's milk or something similiar. He wanted to give me a shot of cortisone and a shot of antibiotics but I said no I'll just take the pills because I wanted to research when I got home! He also said I should stop nursing because I have an infection! I told him I had always read you should keep nursing to pass on the immunity and it is really rare to have to stop nursing for any reason! Please help! I have a 6 1/2 month and a 26 1/2 month old who are both nursing! My baby is exclusively breastfed! Thanks for your help!

[JodiM]

I think it really just depends on the medication.
If it is a amoxicillin/penicillin, augmentin or zithromax, they are all safe. (Just using the basic ones)

I would start giving baby acidopholous within a day of you taking the medicine though... you don't want baby to get a yeast infection.

~Jodi

[Clarity]

the cortisone is being used as an antinflammatory, you can probably skip it and wait for the antibiotics to work. There is a huge list of antibiotics you can take while nursing, including strong stuff like cipro. Many that are containdicated in the PDR are actually approved my the american academy of pediatrics for use in bf moms!

Send him a letter afterwards and complain...that is very uniformed advice. In fact, I think it's also worth a letter to your state licensing board,. That guy should have to take a cotinuing ed credit in lactation. What antibiotic did he give you? I can look it up. Cortisone is not in hale's, strangely - is it actually a steroid I wonder? I thought it was its own thing... if so, that's still not something you need to wean for if it's a one-time thing. That's the closest thing I found.

Dumb docs are why I bought a Hale's. I take it with me to the doc since its ebtter than what they have.

[IamCoupongirl]

Dang it! I left my copy at home!

This always happens when I go on vacation....I never think to bring my copy of Hale's (because we weaned 4 months ago), but invariably another mama needs info asap from it, and I can't help!

The other replies you've gotten are right: you're doctor is an idiot on this topic (most of 'em are, unfortunately).

I'd recommend posting your question on breastfeeding.com's message boards. Several mamas there have Hale's book and can look things up for you. (Oh, duh, I just realized that Clarity can look up your meds in her copy. Nevermind!)

Hope you feel better soon!

[puddinnpeanut]

Thank you Thank you Thank you! I just love all the mamas here at Mothering! I can always count on some helpful, supportive mamas to help me out! I forgot to originally post the prescription name, it is for Augmentin which he did tell me was safe to take while breastfeeding. I was in a big rush when I posted last night! The other "doctor" I put quotes because they had to both be residents, who suggested weaning said I should take amoxicillian! Anyway I rarely go to the doctor but my fever shot up to 103.4, of course on a Saturday and I felt like I had to go in and see someone, so these guys were not my normal doctors!! Anyway I had already thought of writing a letter because he made me so mad! When I was reading The Womanly Art... last night and they brought up another point about sudden weaning, not only is formula in no way comparable but that the baby would probably be unconsolable, yeah and that is just what I want for my child let alone what I need to deal with when I already am in alot of pain! Anyway I ramble I think my fever has me all delerious! Thanks again so much! I 'm going to send dh to fill my prescription now! I probably should have gotten the cortisione shot because my tonsils are so swollen I can hardly swallow, oh well! Thanks again! I need to get a copy of that book! Happy Mother's day!

[gurumama]

If they were indeed residents, ask to speak to/get the name of their supervising doctor--probably the chief resident, or the attending physician in the OR. Calmly lay out what happened, and then calmly explain how you did your research, as a "lay person", and how the solid medical advice you found in your sources (list them) all contraindicate the resident's advice.

Urge that residents get some education on lactation from a board certified lactation consultant so that they can properly treat nursing mothers. It's not like nursing moms are a rarity in this country--residents in OR must see a number of them.

Hopefully something good can come of this for future nursing moms treated by those residents. They obviously know NOTHING about nursing if they're suggesting cold-turkey weaning for a what--10 day?--antibiotic cycle and a one-shot deal of cortisone.

Best of luck as you heal,

Mel

edited to add: I nursed my son through my cycle of Augmentin when he was 8 months old. I totally second the need for probiotics. Solaray make a product called Infant Bifidus--you and the baby can take it--it's a little scoop of powder full of good probiotics. My son had horrible stomach upset and diarrhea when I was on the Augmentin, but within 12 hours of the probiotics, that went away. It costs about $14 and the bottle has lasted about 6 months so far--we each get a scoop ever day now for optimal health.

[Clarity]

You follow up with those jerks! Amoxicillin is approved by the AAP for use in bf mothers. It is also ok in pregnancy and used in neonates and infancy. As you read, suddenly weaning can easily result in mastitis, which then might require it's own antibiotic if you can't manage it yourself. Augementin is not reviewed by the AAP, but hale's believes its ok, gives it and L1 (very safe). Watching you and babe for rash or diarrhea is the only caution.

My kids book suggests popsicles, soup like chicken or miso. (see if warm or cold works better for you.) Vitamin C. Garlic, echinacea and goldenseal, slippery elm, grapefruit seed extract internally or as a gargle, tea of tb hyssop, 1 tb licorice root, 2 tb slippery elm, 1tb sage. You can skip the hyssop and sage if you want...drink as a tea or gargle. Tylenol, humidifier, gargle of 4oz water with 1/4 tsp salt, pinch each of cayenne pepper, lemon juice and honey.

Hope you feel better! The anti. should have you feeling better in about 48 hours...just keep getting in enough liquids and you'll probably be ok wihtout the cortisone.

[Meiri]

Cortisone is not in hale's, strangely - is it actually a steroid I wonder?

Cortisone is a steriod. It's a cortico-steroid, the type made by the adrenal glands. What we hear of in the news being abused are the sex-type steroids, male hormones testosterone and such.

FWIW the inhaled cortico-steriods are safe while nursing because so little gets into the bloodstream. When I had to be on a short course of oral steroids when DS was two, the doc wasn't concerned because of his age. Had he been an infant it might've been an issue, and I'd've checked with a LLL leader. A shot being a one time event....I don't know either way, but I'd bet on it not being a problem for a non-newborn.

[Clarity]

I had looked it up as a corticosteroid, on a guess. The Hale's labeling is unusually vague on that drug. He thought short term use ok, chronic oral or injected to be avoided, but inhaled ok as the blood levels are so very low.

[mirlee]

I have had to take amoxicillian and penecillian while nursing Sam. I didn't stop nursing. He is a child who had very frequent ear infections his first year and a half. He has had all of those antibiotics. I figured that if our ped, who only prescribes when absolutely neccessary or if a parent insists, felt it was safe for him, then why can't I take it an nurse?

Agree with everyone else, don't listen to them.