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gall bladder diet + breastfeeding

dml1126

Topics: 23 Posts: 62

Created over 3 years ago

I just found out that I may need to have my gall bladder out. I have had about 6 attacks that started during my pregnancy and yesterday was the worst one. My doctor told me that I need to start a fat free diet..no red meat, no fried food, no diary..these all set me off. Then he asked if I was nursing and scared me because he said my milk supply will diminish. I really want to continue breast feeding..so I'm wondering what I can eat safely. So far I'm thinking rice, bread, eggs, fruit..veggies, maybe vegetarian things? Any advice/suggestions? Thanks!

NurseAnne

Topics: 4 Posts: 916

Created over 3 years ago

You will continue to make perfect milk for your baby even if your diet is lacking. Even mothers who live in places where they are chronically malnourished make milk that meets the needs of their babies. As long as you take in enough calories to keep your energy up, and drink enough fluid, you should be fine, and with continued breastfeeding your supply should not be affected. Fish and poultry are good sources of protein, as are eggs, beans, lentils, etc.

Another thing to know is that you do not need to interrupt breastfeeding after having general anesthesia, in spite of what you may be told. The anesthetic agents used today are fast acting and pass out of your system quickly. The rule of thumb is that it is safe to breastfeed after surgery as soon as you feel alert enough to safely hold your baby. Remember, mothers who have C Sections breastfeed within an hour or two or giving birth, and continue to do so in spite of having to take post operative pain medications. Those who advise pumping and discarding breastmilk after surgery are not taking into account the risk to the exclusively breastfeeding baby of introducing formula and of the possibility of losing the breastfeeding relationship.

Here is more information about breastfeeding after anesthesia:

http://kellymom.com/health/illness/mom-surgery.html

“Breastfeeding when mom has surgery

Compiled by Kelly Bonyata, IBCLC

General anesthesia should not affect breastfeeding. You can safely nurse once you are awake and alert enough to hold your baby. By that time, the amount of medication in your bloodstream is low enough that the amounts in your milk would not be significant. The point at which you wake up after general anesthesia is the point where enough of the drug has left your system that it no longer has an effect. In addition, pediatric surgeries require anesthesia - and that is a more serious exposure than through mom's milk. Mom might want to nurse just before the procedure in case she's out for a while or too groggy to function normally for a bit.”

See much more about this at the website listed above.

“Here are some facts about breastfeeding and anesthesia:

Medications used in general anesthesia do not remain in the mother's system and do not affect her milk.
Nearly all pain medications are safe for the nursing mother. Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and Ibuprofen are safe. Narcotic analgesics should be used with greater caution - but in general only trace amounts appear in breast milk. Morphine has been shown to have the least effect of all the narcotics on infants. Codeine should be used with caution, but is easily substituted with another medication. Demerol may cause some drowsiness in the infant, but again is generally considered safe.
Pain suppresses lactation. The proper relief of pain will help lactation to continue. “

http://www.anesthesiologyinfo.com/articles/01052002.php

Research: After surgery, how long a wait for safe breastfeeding?

Sometimes women who are breastfeeding must undergo surgery requiring general anesthesia or conscious sedation. They understandably want to know when they may safely resume breastfeeding.

Because there are few data regarding how much of these drugs is actually excreted in the milk, physicians err on the side of caution and advise the women to pump and discard their breast milk for 24 hours after the procedure rather than risk giving their infant an unsafe amount of the drug by way of their milk.

Michael J. Avram, associate professor of anesthesiology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Martin Nitsun, M.D., assistant professor, and colleagues from Evanston Northwestern Healthcare conducted a study that shows it is generally safe to resume breastfeeding after the most commonly used anesthetic, propofol, is administered during surgery.

Propofol is used to put patients to sleep initially as part of a general anesthetic or can be administered at a lower dose as part of a conscious sedation technique along with other intravenously administered agents, including a narcotic for pain and a benzodiazepine for amnesia.

The Northwestern researchers found that less than 0.1 percent of the dose of propofol used to put the patient to sleep appeared in her breast milk within 24 hours after drug administration because the dose is diluted by extensive distribution throughout the tissues of the body and because drug metabolism, primarily by the liver, efficiently eliminates the drug from the body.

Therefore, the very small amount of propofol eliminated in breast milk within the first 24 hours after induction of anesthesia represents such minimal infant exposure to the drug that it provides insufficient justification for interruption of breastfeeding, Avram said.

Studies of narcotic and benzodiazepine transfer into breast milk are under way at Feinberg and Evanston Northwestern Healthcare.

http://www.northwestern.edu/observer/issues/2005/04/14/breastfeeding.html

Reliable information about medication and breastfeeding is available at http://kellymom.com/newman/09a-drugs_and_bf.html

Moderators: NurseAnne, MommaPoco

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