Free Medical Reference on Drugs and Lactation

Before I concluded yesterday’s interview with Dr. Jane Morton, Director of Breastfeeding Medicine at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford University School of Medicine, I couldn’t help grilling her on my pet peeve about medical doctors and breastfeeding knowledge: breastfeeding and medications. I have asked many a doctor whether a medication is safe to take while breastfeeding and been told a simple, flat-out “No” because that was the safe answer for the doctor whether it was true or not. Many times the doctor should have answered, “Let me look that up for you” or “I don’t know but I’d be happy to find out for you” or “Here is what the American Academy of Pediatrics says about the lactation risk” or better yet, “If it’s not compatible I can certainly see if another drug is compatible and would also be an appropriate treatment in this case.”

Dr. Morton assured me that medications are covered in the model breastfeeding curriculum. She also directed me to her favorite tool on the subject, an NIH website put together by the United States National Library of Medicine. She likes it even better than the Thomas W. Hale, Ph.D. book Medications and Mothers’ Milk because the site is free, easily accessible to medical professionals as well as parents, it’s peer-reviewed and very up-to-date. It’s the LactMed database available at www.toxnet.nlm.nih.gov (click on the link for the full web address). The site description reads:

Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed) – A peer-reviewed and fully referenced database of drugs to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed. Among the data included are maternal and infant levels of drugs, possible effects on breastfed infants and on lactation, and alternate drugs to consider.

I tested the site by looking up a few medications including the anti-thyroid medication one doctor told me I could not take while nursing. I was very impressed by this resource. I particularly like the feature that suggests alternate drugs to consider. I also like that PubMed links are provided for any studies cited.

Readers, please pass this reference on to any and all of your doctors — your child’s pediatrician, your obstetrician/gynecologist, your family or general practitioner and any other doctor advising you on medications and lactation. Let’s get the word out about this fantastic free resource!