048: Ask Dr. Nice: Safety of Medications While Breastfeeding
For breastfeeding parents, safely taking medications - whether they are for the parent's health or for increasing milk production - can be complex. It is a delicate balance between the parent's health, the safety of the milk for the baby, and the importance of breastfeeding. It involves communication between the parent's health care providers, the baby's health care providers, and the pharmacist who can help to put it all together. Here our friend and pharmacist with a ton of experience with lactation, Dr. Frank Nice has more answers. On today's episode, we asked Dr. Nice questions such as: How to understand safety of medications when a parent is taking several of them. Can we simply look at each one individually or is there a combined impact? What if both parent and baby are taking medications - do we need to consider the safety of how those medications interact in combination? When a parent is making less than a full milk supply, will the amount of the parent's medication in the milk be more concentrated or will the baby get less medication because there is less milk? ...and more!