You have turned on to the right page. This page will help you know:
- How medicines can affect your breast milk
- What precautions you should take while breastfeeding.
Discuss with your doctor before you buy women’s health medicines online.
Breastfeeding is associated with nutritional, immunological and emotional benefits. It is widely accepted that a mother’s milk is best for a baby. If you are breastfeeding, you give your baby a healthy start, providing the ideal nutrition, antibodies to protect against illness, and a healthy weight. The benefits are substantial for mothers, too; it provides health benefits like a relatively lower risk of breast cancers. One can buy women’s multivitamins supplements online. Make sure you speak to your doctor before getting them delivered to your home.
Do all Medicines pass into Mother’s Milk?
Almost any pharmaceutical agent present in your bloodstream will pass into breast milk to some extent. Most medicines transfer at low levels and pose no risk to most nursing babies.
Medicines used by breastfeeding women may pass into breast milk, usually in small quantities, and rarely affects nursing babies. There are exceptions, though; medicines can become concentrated in mother’s milk. Therefore, every medicine must be considered separately. It is important to talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of any prescription medicines to you and your baby. Also, discuss ways to reduce the number of medicines transferred into your breast milk with your doctor. Your doctor may ask you to take a lower dose of a medicine, take it for a shorter duration or be able to take a rapid-acting formulation to reduce how much is passed into your breast milk.
When taking any prescription medicine, look for possible signs of possible side effects that can affect your baby, such as rash, severe diarrhoea, and increased sleepiness. When you have been prescribed medication, you should be aware and understand why you are taking medicine and use it appropriately.
Does Exposure to Medication in Breast Milk Influence Baby’s Health?
Yes, exposure to medicine in breast milk poses the highest risk to premature babies, newborns, and babies who are not stable or have kidney impairment. The risk is lowest for healthy babies six months and older, who can effectively move medicines through their bodies. Those who breastfeed for more than a year after childbirth tends to produce relatively smaller quantities of milk. This causes a significant reduction in the amount of medication passed to breast milk. Also, medicines are taken in the two days after childbirth transfer at a very low level to your baby due to the limited amount of breast milk you produce during this time.
Should a Woman Discontinue Breastfeeding While Following a Medicinal Treatment?
Most oral medicines are safe to consume while breastfeeding. Also, the benefit of continuing to take medicine for resolving a chronic health condition while breast-feeding often outweighs any potential risks. Still, some pharmaceutical agents are not safe to use while breastfeeding. If you are receiving a medicinal treatment that could harm your infant, discuss with your doctor alternative medicine. In some cases, doctors recommend breastfeeding when the concentration of the medicine is low in your breast milk. Sometimes, your doctor might recommend you discontinue breastfeeding temporarily or permanently, usually depending on the treatment duration. In case of advance notice, you can store milk for use during that time. If you are advised to discontinue breastfeeding temporarily, you may use a double electric breast pump to keep your breast milk until you are able to breastfeed again if you are not sure if the medicine you are taking is safe to use during breastfeeding, until you check with your doctor.
Important Tips
- According to doctors and health care experts, many effects of medicines on nursing babies are simply not known. Therefore, it is always suggested that you take medicine while breastfeeding only when recommended. Buy women’s health supplements online or over the counter under the supervision of a doctor.
- If possible, take medicine that is prescribed only once a day after feeding your baby or after the last feeding of the night before your baby’s bedtime.
- Keep a close eye on your baby for side effects such as irritability, sleepiness, or other known reactions to the medicine.
- Try to avoid long-acting or extended-release and combination forms of oral medicines. Short-acting drugs are usually eliminated more rapidly from your body.
- Only use soluble topical formulations to the breast because ointments may expose the baby to high levels of mineral paraffin via licking.
- Special precautions need to be taken in premature infants, as they are less developed than a regular infant.
- Speak to your doctor about the risks and benefits of the medicine prescribed while breastfeeding or any other over-the-counter product that does not require a prescription.
Conclusion
Prescribing medical treatment for a breastfeeding mother requires weighing the benefits of medicine used for the women against the risk of not breastfeeding the baby or the potential risk of exposing the infant to medications.
