Drug use during lactation

Breast-feeding is an essential physiologic process that provides ideal nutrition to the infant as well as protection against disease. All drugs are excreted into breast milk and are bioavailable to the infant. However, most medications do not pose significant risk to the nursing infant, and breast-feeding should be continued despite medication use in most cases. These decisions should be made using a stepwise approach Pharmacists should be aware of which drugs are contraindicated and which drugs should be used cautiously, in addition to which drugs should be recommended if necessary during lactation information on use of specific drugs is presented in this article. With knowledge of the principles of drug passage into breast milk, the goal of the pharmacist should be to minimize the infant's exposure to drugs while supporting the mother's desire to continue breast-feeding.