nursing on meds

I have epilepsy and am on Tegretol. I have 4 kids but I didn't breastfeed
any of my children except for my youngest. I didn't do enough research at
the time and all the Dr.'s and nurses at the hospitals discouraged me from
nursing. When my 3 year old was born he was in ICU. They still didn't
encourage me to nurse him. He was a big baby 9 lbs. 4 ounces and he broke
his collar bone. Plus he had fluid in his lungs and he didn't want to eat.
He was a mess. He should have been breastfed. When my 6 year old was born he
was very allergic to formula/dairy. His skin bled with sores it was so bad.
His butt bled too. I wish I nursed him and feel bad about it. He is such an
allergic kid. He needs to start allergy shots this month. It could have been
prevented if I nursed him from the beginning. With my youngest baby I did
some researching and found out that Tegretol is safe to breastfeed. All my
Dr.'s gave me the go ahead to do it. I'm so happy I am able to nurse him. He
will be 3 months on the 19th. WE have no problems with the meds and it even
seems to be helping my seizures. I have them with hormones sometimes. I've
been seizure free. The only problems I've had are with dairy. The baby had
some eczema and allergy to the milk I'm drinking. We still haven't fixed the
problem yet. But otherwise we do great. He's big and fat, growing nicely. He
latched on from the beginning. I just really regret not nursing my other
kids and I wish that more Dr.'s would encourage it. When I went back for my
6 week check up, my obstetrician tried to put me on birth control and told
me to stop nursing. I was so annoyed with him. I'm not going back. I can't
find much support with this. I get alot of people asking me how long I'm
going to keep this up. I get annoyed with people who complain about how
hard it is to nurse so they just won't try. There are so many woman who
can't nurse because of the meds they are on or for a medical reason. I don't
know many woman who nurse.I feel like it isn't supported as much as it
should be.
Kris

It didn't work. Sorry. It was a cute picture too.
Kris
"K.B." wrote in message
news

This is my little guy Alex 4/19/03

In article .net, "K.B."
writes:

When I went back for my
6 week check up, my obstetrician tried to put me on birth control and told
me to stop nursing. I was so annoyed with him. I'm not going back. I can't
find much support with this. I get alot of people asking me how long I'm
going to keep this up.

Get thee to a La Leche League meeting ASAP! you can find one at
www.lalecheleague.org. Hopefully there is one in your area or close by!

I'm glad you are able to bf now. Don't spend too much time regretting the
past. Just focus on the present and how wonderful it is that you now have good
information and a great bf relationship with your new baby! Congratulations!

koa
Still nursing James, 02/06/01
EP'ing for Joey 04/02/03 (BCP)

K.B. wrote:
With
my youngest baby I did some researching and found out that Tegretol
is safe to breastfeed.

Oh, good - when I saw your first sentence I started reaching for my copy of
Hale's, since I remembered looking it up before and finding that it was
safe. Glad to know you've already found that out : )

When I went back for my 6 week check up, my
obstetrician tried to put me on birth control and told me to stop
nursing. I was so annoyed with him. I'm not going back.

Good for you. That's very short-sighted of him. After all, breastfeeding is
SO important for your child and there are many birth control options that
are compatible with nursing.

There are so many
woman who can't nurse because of the meds they are on or for a
medical reason.

You might be surprised to find how few meds are really incompatible with
nursing, and how few of *those* don't have viable alternatives.

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net

K.B. wrote:
It didn't work. Sorry. It was a cute picture too.

If you tried to attach a picture, you should know that it's bad netiquette
to post attachments to a non-binary newsgroup like this one. Just an FYI!

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net

I thought I pasted the picture. I wasn't trying to attach it. Usually my
computer would notify me if I do that, it didn't. The picture was a pasted
copy that was there when I sent it. I didn't mean to be rude.
Kris
"iphigenia" wrote in message
...
K.B. wrote:
It didn't work. Sorry. It was a cute picture too.

If you tried to attach a picture, you should know that it's bad netiquette
to post attachments to a non-binary newsgroup like this one. Just an FYI!

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net

K.B. wrote:

I have epilepsy and am on Tegretol.

When I went back for my
6 week check up, my obstetrician tried to put me on birth control and told
me to stop nursing. I was so annoyed with him. I'm not going back. I can't
find much support with this. I get alot of people asking me how long I'm
going to keep this up. I get annoyed with people who complain about how
hard it is to nurse so they just won't try. There are so many woman who
can't nurse because of the meds they are on or for a medical reason. I don't
know many woman who nurse.I feel like it isn't supported as much as it
should be.
Kris



I've been researching birth control and anti-convulsives (I'm on
dilantin) and here's what I found. Basically, in terms of birth control
I'm limited to barrier methods. The midwife said nursing mothers are
limited to the mini-pill but my neurologist said that Dilantin reduces
the efficacy of the pill and it would be best to use non-hormonal birth
control especially if I was nursing.

I'm going to ask about the IUD at my six week appointment.

Jeanne

Jeanne,
I was told that the pill will lower my tegretol and the tegretol lowers the
pill. So I have seizures and can get pregnant. I've tried the pill twice and
I had alot of seizures plus I was supposed to use a back up method. I tried
the IUD but I bled for 2 months and had seizures. My body couldn't handle it
and they were giving me hormones to accept it.
Kris


I've been researching birth control and anti-convulsives (I'm on
dilantin) and here's what I found. Basically, in terms of birth control
I'm limited to barrier methods. The midwife said nursing mothers are
limited to the mini-pill but my neurologist said that Dilantin reduces
the efficacy of the pill and it would be best to use non-hormonal birth
control especially if I was nursing.

I'm going to ask about the IUD at my six week appointment.

Jeanne