Topics in Baby Feeding
The safety of medications differ for mom-baby dyads between pregnancy and postpartum. Determining what treatment is most appropriate in any given situation can feel overwhelming, especially when your health care provider may not be very familiar with medications and breastfeeding. There are several free resources that can provide up-to-date information on medications in breastfeeding:
- The Infant Risk Center at Texas Tech University offers guidance on medications and mother’s milk. They have a Hotline about medications while pregnant or lactating. The number is 1-806-352-2519.
- The LactMed Database is maintained by the National Library of Medicine. You can enter a type of drug or brand name for information.
- MotherToBaby provides medication safety information in English and Spanish for pregnancy and breastfeeding from the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) through a toll-free phone line, text messaging, or a web-based chat.
For centuries, various herbs have been recommended to increase milk supply. There isn’t reliable information about which herbal supplement works best for a specific mother. To sort out what works for you, it may help to start or stop one supplement at a time. If you are already taking a supplement, when you run out, see what happens if you don’t take it for a few days. If you notice a decrease in your supply, resume taking it; if it doesn’t make a difference, you don’t need to purchase a refill.
