Medications and Breastfeeding

Frequently, we get questions on whether a prescription or over-the-counter medication is safe to take while breastfeeding. Many factors affect the transfer of medications into breast milk, including the molecular size of the medication, the age of your baby, the degree of exclusivity of breastfeeding, how long you are taking the medication, the “half-life” of the medication, it’s mode of absorption and mode of action, and if it is “lipid-loving”, among other things! Many medications transfer into human milk in very small amounts with insignificant risk to your baby, but you should be fully informed before deciding to take any medication. The risk to your baby of not breastfeeding, and the risk to your health of not taking a recommended treatment should also be weighed against any risk of exposure to a medication in your milk. If you contact us with the active and/or inactive ingredients, we can provide you and your medical provider with information from Dr. Thomas Hale’s “Medications and Mother’s Milk”, which is the best reference on the transfer of drugs into breast milk. You can also look up medications in the free NIH “LactMed” library. However, we cannot give you specific advice on whether to continue breastfeeding while taking any medication – this is an informed decision you make with your doctor. We hope you find this information useful as you consider the risks and benefits of both taking the medicine and continuing to breastfeed.

Please contact us if you have any further questions, we’d be happy to talk with you further and help you out any way we can!

Birth Control and Breastfeeding

The hormones of lactation inhibit ovulation and reduce fertility for the first 6 months if breastfeeding is exclusive, completely on the infant’s schedule, and mom has had no break-through bleeding. Using breastfeeding as contraception is referred to as LAM (lactational amenorrhea method). Most people do not feel comfortable counting on this as a primary form of birth control and use other methods after 6-8 weeks postpartum.

When you are breastfeeding, it is recommended to use a reversible form of birth control, so that if you do notice an effect on your milk supply, you can stop it (i.e. getting a shot that lasts 3 months is not reversible). Barrier methods are completely safe and have no effect on lactation.

See this Contraceptive Chart for how different types of birth control methods may affect breastfeeding and milk supply from Thomas Hale’s Medications and Mother’s Milk; the premier resource on medications and lactation.

You may also read more on birth control and breastfeeding here.