I have a situation where a mom is hospitalized with pneumonia, she was
visiting from the midwest with her 7 month old nursing son (at least,
she chose to bring him). An internist is giving her EES, 250mg, IV, Q6H,
Zinacef, 750mg, IV, Q8H, Robitussin with codeine qid, Solumedrol, 40mg,
IV, q6h, Zantac, 150 mg po bid, and atrovent puffs qid. Told not to
nurse, but could pump and discard. I was called after 2 days because the
electric pump she bought didn't work. The problem with the pump was she
had the gasket on the neck of the pump and didn't know how to use the
release suction, and she pumped 8 oz bm in 20 min. Luckily, she had been
hand expressing, because it worked better than the pump. The med surg
nurses were unable to detect these problems and someone remembered the
ob floor had a LC,( the word is getting out, I often go to the ped unit
to help a nursing mom with and infant these days.) I called the
Lactation Resource Center in Rochester that often helps me with drug
questions and basically all these meds are compatible with bf which I
told mom but since she is going home in a day,  she could continue to
pump and dump until then and them resume bf. She is worried about baby
not taking her breast directly, he doesn't like abm and we talked about
that there might not be any problem, but if there is resistance, ways
such as sns, cup,syringe feed and I referred her to LLL when she returns
home or to look for an LC. Interestingly, she is Indian by origin, and
wanted me to tell her husband all the info on the phone, I met him
earlier that day when we got the pump to work, so I think I had his
respect. Any thoughts from the drug experts out there. By the way, hope
to see Dr. Jack next month on tour in NY! TIA, Ellen Mahony,
RN,MS,ACCE,IBCLC