Ask your doctor or pharmacist for any information about the medicine that would help you time the dosage and the baby's feedings to get the most medicine into you, but the least into your milk.
- If the medication is one that should be used with caution, it may help to take the medication right after feeding your baby. Most milk is freshly made during the feeding and the breast stores only a small quantity. While baby is feeding, the blood flow to the breasts and, therefore, the potential delivery of the drug to your milk is highest. It decreases after the feed.
- Most drugs reach their maximum concentration in the breastmilk 1-2 hours after being taken. So, taking medication right after you feed allows much of the medicine to be cleared from your milk before the next feeding.
- Best to take once-a-day medications just before your baby's longest feeding interval (usually right after putting your baby to sleep at night), unless the side effects of the medication could keep you and/or your baby awake. With once-a-day medication, when you take the medicine has less effect on the concentration of the drug in breastmilk than with medications taken 3-4 times a day.
- While timing your dosage may help to minimize your baby's exposure to the drug in your milk, don't make yourself and your baby crazy trying to delay or schedule feedings. If you have a baby who nurses frequently throughout the day and night, you will probably both be calmer and better off if you take the medicine as directed and nurse your baby on cue.
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