Hernia Surgery nursing 9 month old born at 36 weeks

[MelodyElise7]

Hello. I had twins born at 36 weeks they are 9 months old. The one I breastfeed is well above the normal growth for a full term infant. I will be having umbilical hernia surgery in September and the surgeon told me to pump and dump for 24 hours because of gasses? He didn’t go further, only that the actual medications wouldn’t harm him if I nursed and I didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant by “gasses”. I cannot pump much at all as I exclusively breastfeed, so I was hoping it was still possible to continue feeding him after surgery? I will be having general anesthesia but it will be about an hour procedure they will send me home right after. The doctor was very quick in detailing what would happen so I don’t know if the exact medications used but I know I will be asleep and the hernia is super small. I worry my supply will drop dramatically if I do not nurse within 24 hours so I’m hoping to get other opinions?

[Sandra]

MelodyElise7,

We recommend waiting about 4 hours or until you are fully awake to nurse after receiving the most common anesthetics like propofol, versed, ketamine, fentanyl, a steroid, a neuromuscular blocking agent, an antibiotic and the anesthetic gas. We do not however like Demerol. The active metabolite of Demerol has a long half life of 15-30 hours. A one time dose in an older infant is probably ok, but you may want to wait about 12 hours, but with multiple doses of demerol we recommend about 3 days.

Sandra Lovato R.N.
InfantRisk Center

[MelodyElise7]

Thank you. I’ll look into seeing if they can avoid Demerol during the surgery.