# Need info quickly--antibiotics while breastfeeding!



## ishyfishie (Dec 20, 2006)

I only have until 2 pm Eastern to get things printed out, but I'm looking for links (got the KellyMom chart but can't break it up) regarding the safety of antibiotics while breastfeeding. I went to the dentist yesterday and was prescribed penicillin for an abcess. My mother is allergic but I've only had penicillin (well, amoxicillin) once before and had no reaction. After taking 3 doses of the pencillin (last one at 11 pm last night), my face has swollen up quite badly, particularly on the side where the abcess is and across my top lip. My dentist isn't convinced it's a penicillin allergy, which I realize it may not be, and is having me come in today to take care of the root canal and crown instead of waiting a few weeks. That's fine with me, I'd rather get it taken care of, BUT I'm concerned that she'll still want me to take penicillin afterwards. When we called about the swelling, she ended up speaking to my husband (somewhat rudely, which is out of character for her, though she's generally pretty blunt) and told him that penicillin is the ONLY antibiotic safe for breastfeeding and "doesn't pass into breastmilk." Well, it says right on the info sheet with the prescription that it passes into breastmilk, but in any case, it's classified as L1 as per http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/...oved-meds.html. However, so are others, like erythromycin, which my mother had to take while breastfeeding for various dental issues and mastitis.

Basically, I'm looking for a chart specifically pointing to antibiotics which are safe to take while breastfeeding so that I can show her--even if it's not a reaction, I don't want to keep taking penicillin if there's a chance that it is. She also told my husband that swelling is NOT a symptom of a penicillin allergy, when it clearly is (says on the Rx info sheet that came with the bottle and is listed on several website as a reaction), so I don't trust her knowledge of breastfeeding and medications too far anyway.

I'll be calling my midwives to get their input as soon as they're in the office this afternoon, and worst case scenario I'll print out that entire chart from kellymom (link above), but I wanted to see if anyone had any other resources with charts listing safety ratings of JUST antibiotics so that I can show her something more compact. Thank you in advance, if anyone can help! I've been trying to find one but need to get the baby to nap before we leave and am not feeling too up to sitting at the computer for very long!


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## AutumnAir (Jun 10, 2008)

I'm sorry you're going through this. I had similar issues when the Czech doctors refused to prescribe anything other than amoxicillin for me when I had mastitis, even though it was a continually recurring infection so obviously the amoxicillin wasn't working. I also printed out this page - it's the best one I could find too, but they totally disregarded it. I know that Dr. Hale's book 'Mother's Milk and Medications' (I think) has the same information and it's possible to email him on his website to inquire about specific meds/situations. It might be worth trying to see a different doctor, or even just calling them and having them verify the safety of other meds to your dentist - who sounds totally unprofessional IMO. Hope you get this resolved easily and quickly and that you feel better soon.


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

How old is your nursling? There are plenty of meds safe for nursing toddlers that arent' safe for nursing newborns.

A general rule is that any medication that's safe for the baby is safe for the nursing mom. Could you call the baby's doctor and get a list of safe antibiotics, or maybe have the dentist talk to the pediatrician?

If your dentist is stuck on "only XYZ med is safe for nursing moms", but your own research tells you otherwise, you can always tell the dentist you'll pump and dump for the duration of the prescription (just to get the prescription) and then do what you want when you're away from the office.


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## ishyfishie (Dec 20, 2006)

Thanks ladies, I was only able to check in very briefly before we had to get over there. My dd is 9 months old. After speaking to the pharmacist, I guess penicillin is just "the best" for this kind of abscess and since they don't think it was an allergic reaction, they wanted me to keep taking it. My dh feels better after seeing the dentist in person and said he thinks she's just one of those people with horrible phone skills. They ended up sort of just lancing it to drain it a bit and after seeing the swelling and where it is, etc, they reiterated that they're sure it was from the abscess and not the penicillin.

So, we didn't fight over it, but I do think my mom and I will be sending a letter to the office regarding medications and breastfeeding. If I'd actually been allergic and known in advance, they obviously couldn't have prescribed it for me! Of course, I still look like Quasimodo, but I feel better about the situation. And as much as I dislike so many medical professionals and accepted procedures, I guess with the wealth of information floating around for people to search for on the internet, they probably do get a lot of people who call and "know" they have something or another when the doctor doesn't believe that's the case. They did say if the swelling continues up by my eye or down into my neck, to get to the emergency room because they can give me IV antibiotics, so that's just lovely. Hoping it goes down quickly and the penicillin takes care of the infection ASAP!


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