Deodorants and breast cancer investigated
Breastfeeding and drugs: a mother's guide
Over the years, far too many women have been wrongly told that they had to stop breastfeeding because of various drugs or medications they may be taking. Some doctors are hesitant to prescribe any medications for a mother who is breastfeeding, once they learn that even a tiny amount will enter the mother's milk.
Many doctors are also afraid to prescribe a drug because of the conservative approach taken towards giving drugs to pregnant women; they feel that if a drug could possibly cause birth defects in a pregnant woman, they shouldn't give it to a lactating woman. Doctors tend to err on the side of caution rather than undertake research in order to reassure the mother that the medication is safe for her baby.
The safe side
Many references will recommend that no drug should be taken by a breastfeeding mother unless it has been proven absolutely safe in all circumstances. The problem with that is that there is virtually no drug that can be said to be absolutely safe all the time. Most medications have not been tested in nursing mothers, so no one knows exactly how a given drug will affect a breastfed baby. Since very few problems have actually been reported, however, most over-the-counter and prescription drugs are considered safe in most situations.
One frequently asked question is why is it safe for a pregnant woman to take a particular medication when it may not be safe for a breastfeeding mother? In a pregnant woman, the mother's system takes care of breaking down and eliminating drugs, whereas in the breastfed infant it is the infant who must break down and eliminate the drug from the breast milk.
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