HELP! Period pain meds and breastfeeding???

[Santosha]

AF is back with a vengance and I'm in so much pain. I usually take naprogesic (contains naproxen sodium 275mg) but am not sure if I can take it now... is it ok with breastfeeding??

[Indadhanu]

I don't think so, well I don't think it's recmmended, but I can't remember why... possibley the same as ibuprofen, because it goes through the milk?

Anyway, I went back to paracetamol, and panadeine (sparingly) if it got *really* bad.

[~Raven~]

One for the pharmacist I think!

[Indadhanu]

One for the pharmacist I think!

Yeah I'd ask the pharmacist... definitely a pharmacist though, not your GP because something they just have noooooooooooooooooo idea what they're on about LMAO!

[briggsy's girl]

i don't think ibuprofen is the big bad it's made out to be. i was dosed up on it after c/s. was told to buy it on the way home (just not to tell the pharmacist i was BF) and, when i had a blockage a couple of weeks later, the GP again told me to take it... obviously if you can get by with just panadol/panadeine, that's great, but if you need it, i can't see it being a huge issue (but that's just my experience from what the middies/ob and gp said!)


ETA - i trust the GP i see - she is an Ob registrar! and the middies were dosing me up too

[Indadhanu]

*lol that should be sometimes not something whoops

BG: Yeah, after the c/s I was on parecetamol and ibuprofen together, but the mws told me to cut down the ibuprofen when I could, so the impression I got was that no it probably won't hurt if you take it every now and then (and I do, especially when I have a whopper headache), but paracetamol is better. When I got my wisdom tooth pulled the pharmcist also said for a bfing mum taking panadeine is better than ibuprofen so Just my experience, anyway.

[Alan]

Naproxen is a category C drug. It has not been proven to be safe when breastfeeding. But neither has it been proven to be unsafe. However small amounts are present in breast milk and due to its potential to do harm I would not recommend taking it whilst breastfeeding

[tk1999]

My ECHN gave me a phone number - Mothersafe - is a number you can call to check medications and if they are safe during breastfeeding. I rang them last week to check the dosage of baby panadol for DD as she is less than 4kgs

The only catch is that they operate during during business hours only Monday-Friday 9am to 4pm - so not a great help at the moment but might help in future... their number is 02 9382 6539

[MantaRay]

Mothersafe is only for NSW (and I think ACT) residents. However every state has their own line, and the information is far more accurate than what the pharmacies and doctors have access to. Kat, you are in Melbourne so you are very lucky that your state drug information line is run by the Monash Medical Centre where the fabulous Rodney Whyte is. He knows it all when it comes to drugs and bfing so you can give him a call on Monday. The number is (03) 9594 2361.

[tk1999]

oops didn't even think to check where the OP was located... my bad.