ABSTRACT
The prescriber should be able to consider the appropriateness of treatment for the mother while determining the safety of the drug and the likelihood of side effects for the baby. The relative infant dose is being increasingly recognised as a valuable guide to the safety of a drug taken by a breastfeeding woman. Most drugs pass into breastmilk but generally in very low levels and very few drugs are totally contra-indicated for use during breastfeeding. Using the drug manufacturer's summary of product characteristics, very few drugs are licenced for use in lactation, so there is no alternative but to cease breastfeeding, at least temporarily, in the face of no other safety data. Anderson suggests that by taking a few simple precautions when prescribing for mothers, breastfeeding rarely needs to be discontinued or discouraged. The sheer number of medicines on the market poses dilemmas of prescribing for lactating women.
