Breastfeeding post-op

It might be an odd question but is the big determining factor in WHEN I'm going to have the surgery.  I have a 4-month-old sweet baby boy and am currently breastfeeding him.  I breastfed my daughter till she was 10 months old and only stopped then because I had a tonsillectomy (which let me tell you as an adult, sucked!  Worse than either two c-sections I had!) and was on Demerol and Phenergan.  I would like to keep breastfeeding him till he is that age at least which would be early next year.  But for insurance purposes, it's better that I have the surgery as soon as possible (or at least before the end of December).  What to do, what to do??  I wonder how feasible it is to breastfeed immediately post-op??

I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be feasible due to the anesthesia still in your system (possibly), not to mention the pain meds you'll be taking. I can't imagine the post-op diet is appropriate either if you are breastfeeding.

i'd consult with doctors both involved in your childs' care as well as yours

You'll have to pump and dump until the drugs get out of your system.

Also, the post-op dietary guideline is extremely limited in calories. Not only for weight loss purposes, but for the healing process as well.

You'll only be consuming a few hundred calories the first couple of weeks, and for the first few months through your losing stage, it's less than 1000 calories.

Check with your doctors, and your child's ped to make sure that your supply would be adequate on a significantly decreased calorie restriction.

 Most doctors would tell you that the calorie restriction would be a problem, bit it isn't. The body will take what it needs to make milk and the supply will not drop unless the demand does, as long as you stay hydrated the body will make milk. Women in 3rd world countries breastfeed their babies for three or more years. The one who will suffer is the mother if she is not supplementing in the vitamin area (which we are told to do anyway, just might need to kick it up a notch). 

I don't believe a thing doctors and nurses say about breastfeeding, most of them are woefully undereducated on the subject. 

yep, you took the words right out of my mouth!

 Is it possible to freeze your breast milk? Never had a child so I don't know.

It is absolutely possible!   I researched a ton in regards to bf'ing post-op and found very little info.  Docs are NOT educated very well so we can't depend on them.  Anyhow, YES you can bf after VSG.

The anesthesia is out of your system by the time you return home.  Most "drugs" you may take after surgery (narcotics, ppi, etc) are compatible with bf'ing.

My son was 14 months when I had my surgery.  I am STILL producing milk today!  There is a lady here who had VSG when her TWINS were 6 months old and continued to successfully breastfeed.

Obviously you must be sure to stay well hydrated.  Please visit kellymom.com for drug/surgery questions while bf'ing.  Also use the search engine and type in 4296023 and 4290786 for a couple threads on this topic.

Good luck!  ~Jennifer

I was sleeved 3 weeks ago and I am currently still breastfeeding my youngest child. Granted she is much older than yours (22 months) so I am not her main source of nutrition, but just the same. I was in the hospital for 3 days and was actually hoping that being away for a few days might help guide her wean a bit...but no such luck..and I'm ok with that. It's totally possible though. If your baby will take a bottle then I would freeze a supply for when you are in the hospital and then plan on pumping several times per day while you are gone to keep your supply up. The IV fluids they give you in the hospital should be enough to keep you sufficiently hydrated, but you'll have to be extra vigilant about keeping your fluids up once you go home. Obviously you'll have to dump your pumped milk that you get while in the hospital because of meds and narcotics that you'll be on at the hospital, but most of that stuff has a very short half life in our bodies so you should be just fine to resume normal feedings once you go home! Good luck on your journey!

Yes! I breastfed my son for 6 months after surgery, and just weaned him at age 3. The only problem I had post op was that they pump you full of fluids- my body took all the fluids and made MILK with it! So my pulse was racing because I was dehydrated. So it took an extra IV bag or two before they would let me go home.

You will need to drink more water, I aimed for 80-100 oz a day when I was nursing.

As far as nutrients, your body will feed the baby first. Women in third world countries that are starving have the same nutrient rich breast milk as everyone else.

I am a huge pro-breastfeeder :) Nursed my first for 15 months and my second for just over 12. I think the immunities and nutrition you're passing to him now are absolutely priceless and can't be duplicated by anything else (no, not even formula!)
However, I also understand being under a timeline with insurance things so I'd suggest having it in as late December as possible and pumping from now until then to build up a storage of milk for when you're down for the count. There's a good chance your supply will take a seriou**** but it doesn't have to be the end of your nursing relatiionship. Still, you might have issues with holding him to bf after surgery -- I know I'm not comfortable with anything touching my stomach right now! And if you want to check the safety of pain meds, please please please look into Dr. Hale's book (search Amazon.com) --- he's done the most comprehensive study thus far :) 

Good luck!!