When counseling breastfeeding mothers who intend to take or are taking medications (prescription, over-the-counter, and/or herbal), the questions below should be considered and asked. The provided answers are necessary to properly counsel mothers on the safe and effective use of medications while breastfeeding. A stepwise approach based upon these answers can then be used to minimize infant drug exposure while breastfeeding. The steps evolve from not taking a medication to discontinuing breastfeeding. Steps can be skipped or combined as appropriate. Following this approach almost always allows the nursing infant to continue to breastfeed safely.
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| 1 |
What is the name, strength, and dosage form of the drug? SHOW |
| 2 |
Do you still have the prescription? Or, have you already filled it and are taking the drug? SHOW |
| 3 |
Why is the drug being prescribed? SHOW |
| 4 |
Do you feel you need to take the drug? SHOW |
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What does your doctor say regarding breastfeeding outcome and taking the drug? SHOW |
| 6 |
What is the drug dosage schedule and how often do you nurse? SHOW |
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How old is the baby? SHOW |
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Knowing this gives an indication of the infant’s ability to handle a particular drug. Also it aids determining the infant’s feeding schedule which may influence dosage scheduling.
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Was your baby full-term or premature? SHOW |
| 9 |
What is your baby’s weight? SHOW |
| 10 |
Is your baby currently receiving any medication? SHOW |
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Do you know how to hand-express milk or do you have access to a breast pump? SHOW |
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Is this your first breastfed baby? SHOW |
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Stepwise Approach to Minimizing Infant Drug Exposure SHOW |
| 14 |
Mastitis Antibiotic Algorithm SHOW |
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