I saw
this article in the news lately that I thought was very interesting. According to the study:
epidural anesthesia was significantly associated with difficulty breastfeeding in the few days after birth and with partial breastfeeding in the first week after delivery. In addition, the 416 women who had epidurals were twice as likely to completely stop breastfeeding before six months compared with women who used no analgesia, after controlling for maternal age and education. Seventy-two percent of women who had no analgesia were breastfeeding at 24 weeks compared with 53% whoreceived pethidine or epidurals containing bupivacaine and fentanyl (an opioid).
I personally feel that they are onto something here. I chose to have a
homebirth with the Guppy because I didn't like the way the epidural and other pain
meds I
received during the Mermaid's birth effected both her and I. The Mermaid would not wake up for the first 48 hours to eat, which the nurses told me was normal with babies whose mothers had
received epidurals. When she finally would wake up to nurse, we did have some nursing problems that resulted in trouble with weight gain. Thankfully, with some
perseverance and the help of
LLL, we were able to overcome these issues and continue to have a successful nursing relationship. So, to those women who
received an epidural during labor, do you think it affected your nursing relationship at all?
Epidurals and Breastfeeding
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1 comment:
hi shelly!i'm a sahm with a almost 2yrs son :) i know this was a very old post, but i just chanced upon your blog recently & i'm reading your blog frm top to bottom becos i can't stop, i enjoy reading so much!!anyways in response to this particular post & also to your other posts abt non-medicated births etc., i had epidural during labour but my son wasn't even descending from my cervix, so after 12hrs of labour,i was given an emerg c-sect..i didn't opt for GA or LA,stil under epidural during the c-sect,but the side effects kicked in aft being stitched up, drowsy, groggy,& i had so much difficulty in breastfeeding...my gynae said my chances of having a natural birth for the next 1 are significantly reduced becos of the 1st, said becos my pelvic bone structure too small (i'm very petite,abt 150cm) we could oni try for natural birth if my 2nd baby's not as heavy or heavier than my firstborn, but tat still doesn't guarantee i can have a natural birth & i'll have a risk of my c-sect wound erupting...i dun see alot of options for me in not havin medicated birth,any thots? thanks!u can visit me at pebblejoy.blogspot.com :)
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