Should anyone out there be an MD and work with moms/babies....you really oughta think twice before you prescribe vicodin to the mother of a preemie (still in NICU) who is already having apneic episodes. And just in case you forget that, the fact that the baby starts having more episodes the evening after mom starts supplying breastmilk for feeds really ought to be a warning.
Likewise, before prescribing Bentyl to a mom who is nursing a newborn, try looking it up. When the pharmacist refuses to fill the script b/c of the danger level and mom calls you concerned about nursing after the dose YOU already gave her, the appropriate response is not, "oh, it was just one dose, it's fine". Try trusting the patient a bit and give the mom info about the drug--perhaps she doesn't think it's "fine" to expose her baby to a drug that falls in the "possible hazardous" category and risks apnea, tachycardia, and constipation in her infant.
Surely I am not the only professional in town with a copy of Medications and Mother's Milk. It really is an excellent book. There is no right or wrong answer to whether a drug is "okay"--there are risks and benefits to taking and not taking a medicine and then to BF or not BF following taking that medicine, but that's the mother's choice...please give her the information!
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