Breastfeeding and general anesthetic

[ikis84]

I have to go into hospital to get all of my wisdom teeth out next week.... does anyone know if it is still safe to bf after a general anesthetic?

[AquaDevil78]

I found this info for you.

How does anaesthesia affect breast feeding? Many drugs given during anaesthesia (http://bhhdoa.org.au/aip/terms.html#anaesthesia) do go into breast milk. Some of these drugs can have the same effect on the baby as if they were given to the baby, but in smaller doses. Most anaesthetic drugs are out of the body within 16 hours of an anaesthetic, although some drugs remain in very small quantities for up to 5 days. There is also a small incidence of breast milk stopping after an operation. Given this fact it is important you tell your anaesthetist (http://bhhdoa.org.au/aip/terms.html#anaesthetist) you are breastfeeding so that a suitable anaesthetic technique be chosen. The safest drugs can be chosen, a regional anaesthetic (http://bhhdoa.org.au/aip/choices.html#regional) may be an option and other precautions can be taken to decrease the chance of breast milk stopping. What you can do is breast feed or express milk just before having your operation. After the operation if you have had a general anaesthetic (http://bhhdoa.org.au/aip/choices.html#general) you should express milk and discard the first lot. After this time it is likely to be fine to breastfeed. If you are on strong pain killers (http://bhhdoa.org.au/aip/pain.html#relief) after your operation then you should be aware that your child may become sleepy from these but is unlikely to come to harm.

[MCNmummyof2]

As long as you tell them its fine. After my general, my boobs had enough milk to feed an army!!!

[kharma]

I breastfed my son after I had a general for my wisdom teeth.. but my son was over 12mths at the time.

[Percy]

I was okay as well. The nurses let DS come in about an hour after i woke up for a feed.