Medication.

So I had a chat with one of the doctors today as my chronic pain has flared quite bad the last few weeks. She has advised that I can have my co-codamol (it's low dose) but that it will mean baby will need to stay in to be monitored. She is also contacting neonatal unit to ask if the monitoring will need to happen if it is infrequent use as I will only use it when I absolutely have too. Is/has anyone been in this situation? Obviously it's lose/lose if I'm in a lot of pain and not sleeping that isn't good for baby but equally the meds aren't ideal either as there are obviously always risks. I do keep a detailed record of when I take medication so I will be able to show when I last took it, how much and how often.

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Is co-codamol bad? You can take it in labour?

I find that really strange - I was offered dihydrocodeine (I declined for my own reasons) at 27 weeks but no mention of baby needing monitoring or anything afterwards??

No, I take codine occasionally for spd and joint pain most I was ever asked was did I have it regularly in pregnancy as baby was a bit jittery but I had some in labour which was why . Nothing else mentioned

I was on it in my last pregnancy but was told if taking past 36 weeks would need to be monitored due to withdrawal risk x

I was on the phone with gp at 34 weeks and was told codine was a no go this far into pregnancy. Earlier is completely fine but this close to due date can lead to complications with baby. She didn't dive into what those complications were.

@Katie if you take it baby will need extra monitoring to check for withdrawal. I suppose of you've only taken in labour there shouldn't be withdrawal as baby hasn't got used to it being in their system

@Kaylee they can need a bit of help with breathing potentially as it makes them more sleepy and they need monitoring for withdrawal. GP's aren't the best at that kind of info. I spoke with the obstetrics consultant today. I had a GP tell me to take ibuprofen and I was like nah I know that's bad.

@Josie that's what they are waiting to here back from neonatal for because I've not taken it regularly before pregnancy anyway only when needed. So it's like if I've taken it twice in the week before she's born will that be a concern type thing and something that still needs to be monitored.

I didn't realise it could affect baby's breathing. I got told with my last pregnancy it was fine to take during labour and I did. Luckily she didn't have any problems 🙈

I needed it for gallstones in my previous pregnancy (didnt help but was worth a go) because it was infrequent use we didnt need to stay (had to stay a couple days for other reasons but cocodamol was never even mentioned again)

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