Beth Vest <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>I am responding to the Duramorph discussion. We have used this in our C/S
>patients for at least 6 years. It is an opiate which anesthesiologists will
>tell you does not effect the fetus or newborn infant. WRONG!!

At our institution, Duramorph can't affect the fetus, because it's given
after the mom is in recovery, which is well after delivery of the infant, of
course. Is it ever given prior to delivery?  I know the original poster
mentioned a spinal--could it possibly be given with the spinal anesthetic
prior to the section?

>At the ILCA
>conference Dr Woolridge asked how many LC's found that babys have many
>sucking problems after moms have had Duromorph. The response was  that
>babys of mom's who have epidural anesthesia have sucking problems
>(DrWoolridge tryed to get a percent guess but I can't remember what percent
>he estimated but it was high). In our hospital I would say at least 75% have
>labor epidurals along with most C/S moms.

I agree that epidurals may be a BIG factor (I'm looking forward to the
results of those pending research studies mentioned by Pardee and Denise),
but I don't think that Duramorph used after delivery causes suck problems.
 Our babies with suck problems have them from the beginning, not after
nursing a few times, which is what you'd expect if a drug in the milk was a
problem. As I noted in an earlier post, babies don't really ingest a lot of
colostrum in the first 24 hours, Duramorph supposedly lasts only about 24
hours, so even babies who are nursing well wouldn't be getting a significant
amount.  Am I missing something here?  [ That's always a possibility! :-) ]

Judy D in WV

PS  Welcome to Lactnet, Beth!