what do i do?

just a quick question as i have a massive dialemma at the mo. i have brittle asthma. my peak flow has gone down over the weekend and today when i saw the dr he says i should really take pred now the thing is im currently breastfeeding my 8 week old baby because of the benefits to him (including the reduced risk of eczema and asthma)!!! BUT pred goes into the milk...i really dont know what to do?!?!

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I know this not that helpful but call your Dr back and check to see what they say.

Bex

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Oxanna i understand how concerned you are. You have to weigh up the danger of your chest going off big time and ending up in hospital for a long time or worse and the side effects of taking pred. Get the phone number of your local hospital where you had your baby and get them to phone the respiratory cons and get advice. Also if you have the number of your local national childbirth trust ring them. They wont be able to give you medical advice but will be there to support you thru this difficult time.

Take care and let us know how you get on.

Louise

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Hi Oxanna, Bex and Bowmei have made some good points. Bowmei is certainly right in that it's good to look at these things from a risk/benefit perspective - i.e. what are the risks of going on pred, what are the risks of NOT going on pred, and what are the benefits of either scenario.

In terms of pred and breast milk, the BNF (aka the doctors' drug bible) says this:

""Systemic effects in infant unlikely with maternal dose of prednisolone up to 40mg daily; monitor infant's adrenal function with higher doses""

Translated, this means that your baby is unlikely to come to any harm if you are taking upto 40mg pred daily.

I would advise you to talk this over with your doctor, bearing these things in mind.

Regards,

Cathy

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Hi oxanna

I agree you should talk it over with the dr but so you know i breastfed the twins for 12 weeks while on pred at 30mg as the benefit to them as prem babies in special care was huge and having been on that dose for the majority of the pregnancy i couldn't just stop it ( am still on pred 2 1/2 years later!)

They are absolutely fine.