I had an epidural for less than an hour before my son's birth (was given one
so his head could be rotated out of an occiput transverse position--I was a
home birth transport).  I had NO troubles with bf after delivery...purely
anecdotal evidence though.

I believe Jan Riordan has done some good epidural/bf research.  If I am not
misstating her work, I believe she and her co-researchers have found that
there is a higher scientifically probable chance to have bf trouble with
epidural moms.  HOWEVER, of interest to note, I also believe she has found
that if epidurals are administered for an hour or less prior to delivery,
then there seems to be no greater risk for bf trouble than if the mother had
had no epidural at all.  This seems to be an indication that--at least in
some way--the drugs DO have an impact (and maybe an increasingly cumulative
effect over time too), though I agree with others in this group that there
may be other confounding factors that we are not taking into account in the
research---like the birth environment, the mother's locus of control, the
mother's knowledge/commitment level, etc.

Jessica Harrison Carlyon, CD, CLE

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