USA As more mothers choose breastfeeding as the way to nourish their infants, questions about taking medications while breastfeeding are on the rise. Indeed, many breastfeeding mothers receive medication during the first week postpartum. Often, answering questions about the safety of a medication is not as easy as mothers sometimes think. Evaluating the safety of a medication for an individual mother and baby is complex and needs to be done by a licensed medical professional. The good news is that Leaders can help mothers with questions about medications without giving medical advice.
Leaders can discuss drugs in general and their effects on the breastfeeding baby and mother.
The younger the baby, the less able he is to eliminate a drug from his system. A full-term newborn can metabolize a drug easier than a premature baby, but is less able to metabolize a drug than an older baby. At about two weeks of age, the full-term baby's liver is mature enough to metabolize most drugs. The more the baby weighs, the less likely he will be affected by a drug, as drug doses in children are usually calculated by weight. A baby who is exclusively breastfed will receive more of a drug than a baby who is receiving solid foods as well.