Hi!

I am just a patient suffering from chronic pain (non malignant). I went
through an entire pregnancy on medication, and delivered a healthy baby with
no problems after taking rather large doses of hydrocodone. I had to fight
tooth and nail to get info on breastfeeding, but being that this is my third
child and I did bf my other 2 I knew where to start. I have been happily
BF'ing my child while taking moderate doses of hydrocodone for four nearly
five months now. My baby is happy content and very on target with everything.
The pediatrician has OK'd this, and so did my perinatolgist. My pain dr on
the other hand, was ABSOLUTELY clueless and so was his ANTI-breast feeding
nurse (who keeps plugging away with "My son was bottle fed, and I cannot see
what the big deal is with BF'ing! He never got sick!")

My problem is this, I have been asked by my perinatologist and by my
physician who treats my pain to consult other women who are pregnant and or
trying to become pregnant ( as a support figure, look I did it and you can
to). I have been doing this for a few months and am now working with a mom
who is currently on a large dose of opioids (including oxycodone and long
acting morphine). She has tremendous pain, but is holding up ok under the
circumstances. Some of these mom's want to BF their babies and you know how
outsiders view this...Yup, the good old NO NO NO! Can't do it, to dangerous
for the baby. My dr's had no problems with this, but I am not a tough case
and we time my dosages around the feedings. I have had a NURSE (who is the
primary for my pain dr's office) tell me on several occasions to "quit"
bf'ing, it is a waste of time and effort and takes away from life and adds to
the pain. Of course I CANNOT have her as an fighting force for these new
mommies and BF'ing. I have searched Hale's site on info regarding this topic
and come up with, basically that MOST opiods are OK with exception to DEMEROL
(which is not widely used for chronic pain anyhow).

The thing is some mothers are on large doses of opiods and would perhaps like
to bf their babies. Is there ANYWHERE out there that I can find PRINTABLE
information on this? Anyone with experience?

Thanks I am desperate to get some answers on this, one mom is delivering in
March.

Thanks so much,
Kim

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