Small Details, Big Impact: Principles of Safe Medication during Lactation

Small details, big influence

What nursing mothers need to pay attention to is that If you have to use unsafe drugs that are forbidden during lactation, you need to suspend lactation. Even if the medication is over, the time to resume lactation is also important. 1. Understanding the half-life of drugs According to the theory of drug clearance in the body, each drug has a half-life, which is usually indicated in the drug instructions. So understanding the half-life of drugs is used in what? It is generally believed that, After about five half-lives, The drug can be completely removed from the body, You can resume breastfeeding. For example, the antibacterial drug levofloxacin, The half-life indicated in the instructions is about 6 hours. After 5 half-lives, It can be considered that the drug is basically cleared in the body, Therefore, by multiplying the half-life value 6 by 5, It can be calculated that the drug can be removed from the body about 30 hours after taking the drug once. That is to say, after taking levofloxacin, lactation can be resumed in about 30 hours. 2. Understand the drug dosage forms. Drug dosage forms are usually divided into [quick-release dosage forms] and [slow/controlled-release dosage forms]. Take tablets as an example, ordinary tablets are usually quick-release dosage forms and need to be taken many times a day. Sustained/controlled release tablets are usually long-acting dosage forms, It is normal to take the medicine once a day. When nursing mothers take the medicine, Rapid release dosage forms should be selected, Avoid slow/controlled release dosage forms as much as possible, To prevent the drug from staying in the mother’s body for too long. 3. It is recommended that nursing mothers be vaccinated against influenza. Lactating mothers should also pay attention to the fact that, Babies under 6 months old are not suitable for influenza vaccination, Their ability to resist influenza depends more on their mothers, Therefore, it is recommended that nursing mothers be vaccinated against influenza. Similarly, In order to prevent the family from contracting flu and infecting the virus to the baby, The caregivers who take care of their babies at home should also be vaccinated against influenza in time. 4. Imaging examination and anesthetic will not affect breast-feeding babies. Filming and dental examination during lactation also make many mothers struggle. In fact, During CT, X-ray and MRI, The body is exposed to a certain amount of radiation, However, it will not affect the lactation after that, and the mother can not worry about it. Anesthetic will be used in the process of filling teeth, but the anesthetic used in filling teeth will be metabolized quickly in the body and will not affect the baby who eats breast milk. Notice on the use of external medicine during lactation, and mothers during lactation have more problems. 1. Can beriberi cream still be used? [Teacher Ji, my beriberi is breaking out, painful and itchy. I am still nursing. What medicine can I use? ] As we all know, Dakenin can treat beriberi. Its effective ingredient is [miconazole nitrate]. This ingredient basically does not enter milk when applied externally, so local external application during lactation does not affect lactation. 2. How to apply medicine for breast eczema? [May I ask whether breast skin eczema (non-nipple and non-areola part) can be used for medicine during lactation? Will it enter the milk? ] Lactating mothers also suffer from eczema. During lactation, you can choose to use hormones with slightly weaker [hormone intensity] such as [hydrocortisone butyrate] or [mometasone]. However, it should be noted that, It should be used in a small area for a short period of time. It should be applied after feeding. Don’t let the baby’s skin come into contact with it, especially don’t let the baby eat it. If you apply medicine to eczema on the breast, you need to thoroughly clean off the ointment before feeding. 3. Can you apply medicine to nipple bites? [May I ask the pharmacist, the nipple is bitten by the baby. In order to avoid infection, can you apply aureomycin ointment or Baiduobang and wash it before the next lactation? Almost every breast-feeding mother has experienced nipple bites by her baby. It is usually recommended to use [sheep cream] to treat baby bites. This ointment is fine even if it is eaten by the baby. If you can’t buy it, you can apply a small amount of [aureomycin ointment] or [Baiduobang] immediately after breast-feeding. Wash it before breast-feeding next time. Don’t let the baby eat it or the baby’s skin come into contact with it. 4. Can the mother still nurse if she has herpes zoster? Our hospital once accepted a 4-month-old baby suffering from chickenpox, The cause of the disease is that the mother has herpes zoster. Here, I would like to remind the nursing mother in particular: The virus that causes varicella and the virus that causes herpes zoster are the same virus. If the breast-feeding mother has herpes zoster, she should avoid intimate contact with the baby. However, acyclovir for the treatment of herpes zoster is safe for lactation. In a word, the principle of using drugs during lactation is: 1. Try to avoid using unsafe drugs during lactation; 2. Diseases with self-healing tendency can not be used without drugs; 3. When you need drugs for illness, don’t carry them hard and try to choose drugs safe during lactation. 4. Once the drug is used, it should be taken according to the normal dose of adults and should not be reduced at will. 5. Choose drugs with a single effective ingredient as much as possible to avoid compound preparations; Choose quick-acting dosage forms as much as possible and avoid long-acting dosage forms; 6. When the problem can be solved with external medicine, do not choose oral medicine; 7. The best time to take the medicine should be immediately after lactation, or before the baby’s longest round of sleep. 8. For the sake of oneself and the baby’s protection from influenza, it is recommended that nursing mothers should be vaccinated against influenza in time.