Prednisone for Poison Ivy

[Ndhildreth]

I had to go to urgent care for poison ivy. They prescribed steroid cream (Kenalog) at first but the rash kept spreading and the cream wasn’t helping. It’s been 2 weeks and I’m afraid it will only get worse without steroids which I wanted to avoid.

They then prescribed prednisone 60mg/day for 7 days (given as 20mg pills). I exclusively BF my 7 month old approximately every 2-3 hours. If I take the 20mg three times a day, spread out, would you still recommend waiting 4 hours to feed after taking the medicine? I don’t have stored milk so would have to use formula as I don’t think my baby would wait 4 hours between feeding. She still feeds overnight as well so taking at night wouldn’t eliminate the problem.

Will 60 mg/day for 7 days effect my baby or milk supply?

Thank you

[admin]

Ndhildreth:

Prednisone enters milk only poorly. However at high doses like 20-60 mg/day over PROLONGED periods like weeks to months, it would be contraindicated in breastfeeding mothers. Steroids over a long period could reduce bone growth and stunt linear growth rate in an infant. But we commonly use IV steroids in infants for acute syndromes at doses comparable to this, but only briefly.

However, at this dose for only a week, levels in milk are not likely to produce any effect in the breastfed infant, particularly at 7 months postpartum.

But don't take it much longer than a week.

As for your milk supply, who knows. I don't know of any study that has looked at milk supply.



Tom Hale PhD.