Taking medication during breastfeeding
Breastfeeding patients often have the problem that they do not know exactly which medication they can take without harming their child. Some medications for gastrointestinal diseases have the property that they are absorbed into the breast milk and thus the patient unconsciously passes on the active ingredient of the medication to the child through the breast milk and through breastfeeding. However, it is not impossible to take a combination of breastfeeding and medication for gastrointestinal diseases.
Nevertheless, there are some medications for gastrointestinal diseases that breastfeeding mothers can take. It is only important to make sure that the patient takes medication that the child can tolerate and that the child does not have any problems with it.For example, the drug Vomex® can be taken in case of gastroenteritis with nausea and vomiting. Although Vomex® does not cure the disease, it can help the patient to overcome the persistent nausea.
However, instead of taking medication for the gastrointestinal disease, it can also help if the nursing mother tries to cure the disease naturally with the help of vegetable broth, tea made from dried blueberries and, above all, plenty of rest and sleep. In general, a nursing mother should take as little medication as possible during the nursing period. The use of paracetamol and ibuprofen is also viewed very critically, on the one hand because it only treats the patients’ pain but not the gastrointestinal disorder itself, and on the other because high doses of paracetamol in particular are extremely harmful to the baby. In the case of other gastrointestinal diseases, such as gastritis, appendicitis or similar, it may be necessary for the patient to breastfeed her child in order to be able to take suitable medication for the gastrointestinal disease.
Medicines against botulism
Botulism is an acute food poisoning. In this case, bacteria of the genus Clostridium botulinum are ingested, especially through canned meat and similar products. These bacteria possess a poison (toxin) that can be extremely dangerous for the patient. It leads to diarrhoea, vomiting, visual disturbances and subsequently to paralysis. Instead of medication against the gastrointestinal disease, the administration of the antidote (antitoxin) is extremely important here, as otherwise the lungs can become paralyzed and the patient can stop breathing.