Pain relief options

Morphine

What are morphine injections?

Morphine is a strong pain reliever, usually injected directly your arm or thigh.

  • the effect of morphine can last anywhere from two to four hours.
  • morphine can make you feel sick, so anti-nausea medications are usually administered at the same time.

What are the possible side effects?

For mother:

  • dizziness and nausea
  • disorientation and altered perception
  • respiratory depression (reduced breathing).

For baby:

  • because baby is exposed to the drug via the umbilical cord, it may cause difficulty with breathing at birth, particularly if the baby delivers soon after a morphine injection
  • it may also interfere with breastfeeding.

In this guide:

  1. Managing pain in labour
  2. Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS)
  3. Sterile water injections (SWIs)
  4. Nitrous oxide (gas)
  5. Morphine
  6. Epidurals

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