Kathy A. mentioned the dreaded Demerol in a recent post which was very timely.
I have a week old baby who has had some disorganization since birth.  It takes
him forever sometimes to achieve an organized suck no matter what we do.  Dad
is finger feeding today because mom is so exhausted.  Will see them in the
morning.  He latches well when I am there and even last night when I was
talking to dad on the phone, he latched on.  I am sure that is a familiar
scenerio for lots of you--magical voices!!  Milk supply is coming up nicely so
that is a postive.  Anyway, this mom had a spinal headache after delivery and
was given 3 days of Demerol every 3-4 hours.  I am assuming 50mg. but could
have been some 100s.  I wasn't there, obviously, as I am always reminding the
anesthesia department that Demerol is not the best choice.  Now they sent her
home taking Vicodin every 3-4 hours after having a blood patch.  She is
weaning off the Vicodin per my suggestion and has done fine with only 1 today.
The Demerol is out of her body but just how long does it take in the baby--a
36 weeker?  I know the normeperidine can accumulate in babies.  I think this
has some effect on this baby but I don't know how much.