No one is immune from a cold. Especially a woman who just endured and gave birth to a child. After all, the body directed all the forces to bearing the fetus, recovering from childbirth and maintaining lactation. No wonder that right now there is such a high probability of catching a cold, although there is absolutely no time and energy for this. How to help a nursing mother? What nasal drops can be used while breastfeeding? What composition of drops is considered the safest for a child?
Rhinitis and lactation
Most often, nursing mothers are pursued by common seasonal viral diseases. Their main symptoms are:
- Increased body temperature.
- Cough.
- Sore throat.
- Rhinitis.
But still, it would not be superfluous to consult a doctor in order to exclude a different nature of the disease (for example, bacterial). After all, now from the he alth of the mother directlynewborn baby depends. Everyone knows that most children for the first six months or even for the entire period of breastfeeding are immune to many diseases, but no one can be one hundred percent insured.
It happens that, despite a strict diet and a serious restriction in food, a runny nose in a nursing mother causes an allergic reaction. In this case, after an appropriate examination, the doctor will definitely select medicines that cannot harm the baby.
What Komarovsky E. O. advises
Being a doctor talking to the people on behalf of civilized medicine, Komarovsky categorically does not recommend using drops in the nose during breastfeeding. He advises at the first sign of infection to lie down, dress warmly and create the most comfortable conditions for recovery: cool air and almost one hundred percent humidity. Subject to these recommendations, the doctor promises that nasal drops during breastfeeding, if the runny nose is not complicated, will not be needed and the cold itself will pass in 3-7 days.
As an additional treatment, Evgeny Olegovich prescribes to his patients:
- Plentiful warm drink.
- Diet.
- Drops from saline nasal solution (s alted water solution).
- Regular ventilation of the apartment.
The doctor reminds that to protect the family and the child from infection, it would be useful to use gauze masks (which must be changed every two to three hours). BUTalso reminds that folk remedies such as honey, lemon, raspberries and garlic not only do not provide any scientifically proven benefit in fighting infection, but can also be dangerous for a nursing baby.
Nose drops while breastfeeding: what can you do?
It is worth noting that the use of any drug during breastfeeding, even after consulting a doctor, should be started gradually and with small doses. This will determine the presence of possible allergic reactions in the baby.
The safest and even most useful are drops and sprays based on water and sea s alt. They perfectly moisturize the mucous membrane and can be used during pregnancy, lactation, and even in children from the first weeks of life.
Oil drops from the common cold are relatively safe. During lactation, they usually do not cause allergic reactions due to plant components ("Vitaon", "Pinosol" and others). They have a good antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory effect.
To relieve swelling from the nasal mucosa and quickly relieve symptoms, vasoconstrictor nasal drops (when breastfeeding) with xylometazoline are usually prescribed. When breastfeeding, doctors do not recommend using them for more than three to five days. It is also advisable for the mother to use baby drops, since the dosage of the drug in them is much less. You can try to do without vasoconstrictor drugs at all, or use them only at bedtime.
There is such a drug as "Derinat" (drops in the nose). When breastfeeding, they are absolutely harmless. It is recommended to drip even for prevention. According to the reviews, it can be judged that these drops are often prescribed even for infants, if someone in the family is sick.
List of approved drugs
Officially allowed breastfeeding nose drops:
- "Aquamaris", "Physiomer" (composed of water and s alt).
- "Derinat" (active ingredient - sodium deoxyribonucleate).
- "Pinosol", "Vitaon", "Delufen" (oil-based).
- "Euphorbium Compositum" (homeopathic drops).
- "Nazivin", "Tizin", "Nazolin", "Naphthyzinum" (as part of xylometazoline).
Can I drip breast milk down my nose?
Drop, rinse the nose and even just lubricate it with breast milk doctors categorically forbid. It has been scientifically proven that sweet warm milk creates a favorable environment for the reproduction of bacteria and viruses. So such a medicine not only will not cure, but will seriously aggravate the situation.
Homeopathic remedies for a runny nose in a nursing mother
Very often, homeopathic remedies are recommended as a powerful weapon against all adversity at any age and position. Supporters of such treatment at every step shout about the dangers of "chemical"drugs and promote their methods.
That homeopathy can do no harm is not surprising. In the famous "peas" and "droplets" there is such a meager amount of the active substance that the body is simply not able to notice it. So you can really use such drugs even without a doctor, because all their benefits lie in the placebo effect. Therefore, very often you can hear reviews that homeopathy cures everything, because if a person really believes that this is a medicine, then with a high degree of probability, he will recover.
Rhinitis in a nursing mother and antibiotics
To begin with, antibiotics are never taken just because of a cold. There is always a serious reason for taking such a medicine and a prescription from the attending physician. If it has already happened that the usual runny nose is already running, a strong cough has appeared, the temperature does not subside, but rises higher, the state of he alth worsens and pains of different localization appear, you simply cannot do without going to the doctor.
A doctor may prescribe antibiotics to a breastfeeding mother if the benefits outweigh the risks. But it should be remembered: feeding will have to be temporarily (until recovery) stopped, and milk should be expressed and poured out (so that it does not burn out, and later it was possible to resume feeding the baby). It's okay that the child will have to spend a couple of weeks on the mixture, the main thing is that the mother gets better soon.
Continue to feed if you get a runny nose, or switch to formula? Reviews
Experienced mothers say that if there are no other symptoms, breastfeeding is not only possible, but should be continued. When a mother is sick, the baby receives antibodies with milk, which the adult body begins to produce already in the first hours of the illness. Thus, according to the law of nature, the baby cannot get infected. But still, doctors recommend giving up kissing for the period of illness and, of course, not coughing on the child and not blowing your nose if he is nearby.
How to protect your child from a cold
- It is desirable that the child can at least sleep in an uncontaminated environment - try to give the baby a separate room for the period of mother's illness.
- Ask dad or grandma to take more walks with the baby.
- Wet clean your apartment at least once a day.
- Ventilate the apartment every two hours.
- Try to feed your baby in a gauze bandage.
- Keep breastfeeding the best support for your baby's immune system.
Folk remedies
Are there any all natural nose drops (when breastfeeding)? How to treat a runny nose in this case, traditional medicine will recommend:
- Rinse the nose with a saline solution. The same method, by the way, is recommended by traditional medicine (s alt is diluted in warm boiled water in a ratio of about 1 to 30).
- Nose drops from aloe/kalanchoe juice (aloe leaf is cut and squeezed, diluted with water and instilled in the nose).
- Drops from beetroot juice (from rawbeets squeeze the juice and drip into the nose 2-3 drops).
- Rinse with a decoction of chamomile and instill it into the nose.
A tablespoon of dried chamomile flowers is poured into a glass of boiling water and insisted for several hours. The resulting solution is filtered and instilled into the nose. Also, the infusion can be further diluted with water and used to rinse the nasal passages and throat.
Inhalations on herbs. Can only be used if there is no temperature
Reviews of experienced mothers suggest that it is not worth using nasal drops (when breastfeeding) from garlic, often recommended by traditional healers, as well as products based on raspberries, lemons, onions and honey. They often cause severe allergies in the child.
Prevention
In order not to use drugs to combat rhinitis, it is worth thinking about prevention in advance. This will help:
- Walking (at least twice a day). It will be useful for both mom and baby.
- Ventilating the apartment.
- Maintaining the air temperature in the apartment around 20 degrees Celsius.
- Using a humidifier.
- Clothes for the season and the weather.
- He althy eating.
- Sports.
- Hardening.
- Use of protective ointments and masks (in public places, especially during epidemics).
