Breastfeeding on Injectable Opioid Agonist Therapy: A Case Report

Injectable opioid agonist therapy (iOAT) is the highest-intensity treatment currently available in Canada for individuals with severe opioid use disorder. However, there is limited data on iOAT administration in the perinatal period, with no research, practice guidelines, or known reports of breastfeeding on iOAT. This article presents the first known case of an individual breastfeeding on iOAT.

We present a case of a pregnant 32-year-old woman from Canada with severe opioid use disorder, who stabilized with iOAT and chose to breastfeed her infant. She presented to hospital at 38 + 6 gestation in labor, unstable in her substance use disorder despite multiple interventions and was initiated on iOAT (intravenous hydromorphone) shortly after delivery. Before initiation of breastfeeding the infant was admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for monitoring. On day 9 of life the infant received breastmilk for the first time, and was discharged from neonatal intensive care unit on day 12 of life with no clinical evidence of sedation or respiratory depression. The infant maintained mixed feeding and at 58 days of life was discharged in the mother and father's care, a healthy infant with stable vitals.

This case suggests positive infant and maternal health and social outcomes for breastfeeding on iOAT. Further research on perinatal iOAT use and the pharmacokinetics of high-dose hydromorphone in breastmilk is required to inform clinical practice guidelines to safely support individuals and their infants who are impacted by substance use.