Can I breastfeed while taking penicillin?

You need to be cautious when using medications during breastfeeding. Many medications cannot be used at this time, or you should stop breastfeeding after taking the medication, otherwise the medication will enter the child's body through breast milk and affect the child's health. Penicillin is a very common drug. After taking it, people are worried about affecting their children's bodies. So, can I breastfeed while taking penicillin? Let’s take a look below.

The instructions for use of penicillin state that it should be used with caution in pregnant and lactating women, which means that the pros and cons should be weighed before use, but it does not say that breastfeeding must be stopped. So you can continue to breastfeed your baby.

Guidelines for Medication Use During Breastfeeding

When taking medications during breastfeeding, many mothers tend to only focus on whether the medications affect milk secretion, and rarely consider the effects of the medications on the baby, or simply don't know which medications have effects on the baby. In fact, many drugs can enter the baby's body through the mother's breast milk and have effects on the infant. Although the concentration of some drugs entering breast milk is very low, they can still cause great harm to the tender body of the infant.

At the same time, most drugs taken by breastfeeding women will appear in breast milk to a greater or lesser extent, and the newborn's ability to metabolize and excrete drugs is not yet mature. Newborns eliminate drugs very slowly. For example, when adults take caffeine, half of the caffeine is eliminated in less than 4 hours, but it takes more than 80 hours for newborns to eliminate it.

Because neonates may have particularly poor excretion of certain drugs, such as caffeine, problems may be exacerbated if these drugs are repeatedly given through breast milk. Therefore, breastfeeding mothers should avoid drinking caffeinated beverages, otherwise it will make the baby excited.

Therefore, you must be cautious when taking medications during breastfeeding and pay attention to whether the drugs will be excreted through breast milk and whether they will cause harm to the baby after inhalation.