Cat Scan

PLEASE consult a lactation consultant, You do not really have to wait 24 hours after this test to nurse. Definitely make whoever told you that show you their reference. There is a book called "Medication and Mother's Milk" by Thomas Hale that the hospital should have to reference. In this book it says contrast dye is not harmful. I encounter this alot because docs don't know about it so that's what they tell you to do. Contrast dye has a short half-life and 24 hours is way to long to pump and dump. Please look into it and save yourself some hassle. Good luck!

I did not have a cat scan, but had surgery and my pain medication prohibited me from nursing 24 hours after surgery. I did pump TONS for the day, but he only drank two ounces from the bottle. At the time, he was 12 weeks old. My husband and mom were watching him while I had the surgery and stayed over night to recover. I was not there to witness how he was, but from what I gather he was pretty unhappy. After about 8 hours of refusing the bottle, I guess my mom panicked and gave him some baby apple sauce (which he happily took). After about twelve hours he finally drank two ounces from the bottle! The next morning my hubby brought the baby to the hospital so I could nurse him. He nursed for a long time and then slept for about three hours!! He may be extremely unhappy, but he will survive. Good luck!

Hi Tricia,

I've never been through this but have you thought about pumping for the next couple days so you have breast milk at least and giving it to your son by bottle? At least that way he's still getting breast milk instead of formula?? I'm sure you've already thought of this but just thought I would mention it.

Good luck,

N.

Do you have a breast pump? Do you have any stored in the freezer? For the time you can't nurse, you can feed the pumped and saved milk and supplement with regular milk based formula as needed, but still pump after the scan in that time you can't feed and just pour it down the drain. Having not had a bottle before, hard to tell how he'll take it, but if he's hungry enough, he'll drink from it, and 24 hours isn't TOO terrible if he doesn't drink that well from it. Just gotta do what you can. Best wishes to you with everything!

I just went through all of this when my twins were 2.5 weeks old I was told the cat scan dye has a "shelf-life" of 6 hours so I was to dump my pumped milk for 12 hours to be safe....that being said from the day I got my milk in I would pump after each feeding and then freeze so I could have a back up or more milk on hand if I return to work...thank God I did this....while in the hospital and in ICU for 30 hours my Mom and DH were able to feed the twins my breastmilk just from a bottle...the first 2 feedings were rough but by the 3rd feeding it went better and each took about 2 oz
When I got home we went right back to BF and have had no issues....

Pump as much as you can (even 12 oz can go a long way) and let Dad or someone else bottle feed....

Good Luck!

Jen

I haven't gone through this but my sister did. She was also exclusively breastfeeding. I believe she started offering a bottle of pumped breast milk/formula as soon as she scheduled the MRI (that is what she had not a cat scan). Hopefully your son will take well to the bottle (I am sure he will). You two will survive this.

Good luck with everything.

i had to i was told to buy a bottle with the same shape as the breast. i think gerber or evenflo have this it worked outjust fine. when you feed it to him cuddle him in the same manner as if you were breastfeeding.