Medications and breast-feeding: Current concepts

Objectives: To describe the various factors that come into play when a breast-feeding mother is taking medications, including use of prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications, recreational drugs, galactogogues, and herbal remedies and to provide a framework used for counseling breast-feeding women. Setting: Community and hospital pharmacy and health care settings. Practice description: Consultative services provided to breast-feeding mothers who had been prescribed or were using medications. Main outcome measures: Use of pharmacokinetic factors, maternal and child factors, a list of questions to ask breast-feeding mothers, and a stepwise approach to counsel breast-feeding mothers on the compatibility of using medications while breast-feeding. Results: By positive intervention of pharmacists and health care providers, up to 1 million breast-feeding mothers, who must use medications, can continue to breast-feed while taking medications. Conclusion: Objectively weighing the benefits of drugs and breast-feeding versus the risks of drugs and not breast-feeding, in most cases, allows for pharmacists to give current and practical advice to mothers and other health professionals who counsel mothers.