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Sunday, January 9, 2011

Medications while Nursing?

There are 3 questions you should ask when considering taking ANY medication while nursing:

1. Do you need the drug? (Need is different than really want)
2. How does the drug affect baby?
3. Can the drug affect my milk supply?

First, talk to your doctor about any medications you need to take while breastfeeding. Ask a pharmacist too because many drug labels state, "do not take if pregnant or breastfeeding" because they would rather be safe than sued, but a pharmacist can tell you what the drug manufacturing company recommends such as when to take certain drugs to minimize their risk or alternative drugs that are safer. Some drugs go through the system quickly (like alcohol takes about 3 hours to digest) so if you have to take medication while nursing, you might be able to take it just after nursing, and wait till your body digests it or pump before nursing again.

The problem with most medications is that they simply haven't been tested with breastfeeding women, because no nursing mom would volunteer to see how X medication affects her baby.

There are SOME medications that are considered safe to take while nursing as well as others that probably safe but haven't been around long enough or been tested enough. Check out the list of drugs that are not safe to take while nursing too at Baby Center's Drug Safety Charts.

Personally, I have had to take a wide variety of drugs while pregnant and nursing (from Tylenol, Motrin, Percocet, Antibiotics, Benedril, Zofran, Immodium, Monostat, Robitussin, Tums, as well as several types of medicated creams, ointments, eye drops, etc) but took ALL of these while under my doctor's care. ALWAYS check with your doctor before you assume any drug is safe, because every body is different, every baby can respond differently, and some drugs become "safer" the older your nursing baby is (ex: a baby's liver isn't developed until they are 3 months old so digesting any alcohol before that time can potentially put your baby in danger).

Also, my "boobie Bible" (So That's What They're For!) was a great resource when it came to looking up certain drugs because an extensive list of charts (roughly 8 pages long) are listed. In this book several phone numbers are listed as well in case you actually want to call an expert and have any questions about drugs and their affects on breastmilk:

Phillip Anderson, a pharmacist and the director of the Drug Information Service at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, compiles research on drugs and breastmilk interaction. You can call the UCSD information service at (900) 226-7539, 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday ($4 for the first minute, $2.50 for every additional minute).

The Lactation Study Center: free information on drugs in breastmilk: 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday (716) 275-0088.
The La Leche League: 800-LA LECHE or (847) 519-7730. In Canada? Try (800) 65-4234 or (514)LA LECHE for a French speaker (page 328-331).

EDIT:  I just came across a very helpful site called Kellymom. On her site she has a wonderful index of medications and their levels of safety while breastfeeding or pregnant.

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