A recent research report published in The Annals of Pharmacotherapy examined the reliability of 10 sources of information on the safety of drugs during lactation. The sources included databases used by two retail pharmacy chains, available text references, and electronic references.

A list of sources follows:

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) – published periodically and available free online

LactMed – free online resource from the National Library of Medicine

Medications and Mother’s Milk (MMM) – book updated every two years; online subscription service available

Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation (DPL) – book updated last in 2005

Microdex – online and handheld resource

Lexi-Comp – handheld and web-based resource used by pharmacies and prescribers

Epocrates – handheld and…

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The safety and effectiveness of routine interventions during labor, birth, and the immediate postpartum period is the subject of a literature review by Mercer and colleagues.

“Evidence-Based Practices for the Fetal to Newborn Transition,” published in the May 2007 issue of Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, examines the evidence for routine newborn care practices including labor medications, umbilical cord clamping, temperature control, suctioning, and resuscitation.

According to Mercer and colleagues, “Recent research is beginning to identify some older practices that should not have been abandoned and some current practices that should be stopped.”

A summary of the results, listed below, are prefaced by…

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The safety of drugs during pregnancy and lactation has been a topic of debate for many years. Currently the safety of codeine is the focus of a class action suit filed in Toronto, Canada. The suit was triggered by the death of Tariq Jamieson, a healthy, full-term, exclusively breastfed baby boy who died at 13 days of age from morphine poisoning.

Tariq’s mother was experiencing pain after birth and was given a prescription for Tylenol 3. Ms. Jamieson took 2 tablets every 6 hours on day 1. The dose was reduced to 1 tablet every 6 hours on day 2 after…

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The National Library of Medicine has established a free online database, LactMed, that contains information on drugs and breastfeeding. LactMed is part of a comprehensive toxicology data network known as ToxNet.

LactMed is designed for use by health care professionals as well as breastfeeding mothers. The database contains information on more than 450 drugs. LactMed can be searched together with ToxNet in a multi-database environment to obtain other relevant information about specific drugs or separately.

The creative force behind LactMed is Philip O. Anderson, PharmD, FASHP, Director of the Drug Information Service at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center. Additional…

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My children are now grown, each having survived my attempts at parenting. And I will be the first to admit, I made my share of mistakes, but then, so did they. After all, that’s what growing up and growing old are all about.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I thought parenting was supposed to be an adventure – an unpredictable journey of twists and turns and ups and downs. But parents today seem to rely increasingly on gadgets and gizmos in an effort to minimize mistakes and maximize results.

Babble Soft recently announced the launch of its Baby Manager Web and Mobile software. Now…

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Did you know there’s a new product on the market that enables you to test your breastmilk for alcohol? And did you know that it’s completely unnecessary?

Designed by two moms, Milkscreen works as follows: Saturate a test pad with breastmilk and wait two minutes. If the pad changes color, voila, alcohol is present in your milk.

This information is intended to help you decide whether or not it’s “safe” to breastfeed after having that cold beer on a hot summer night.

So what’s the problem?

When it comes to alcohol, theres a huge difference between getting roaring drunk and having an occasional glass of…

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While use of lithium in breastfeeding mothers is often discouraged, researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston found that lithium levels in breastfeeding infants were quite low and well tolerated.

According to Dr. Adele Viguera, “In clinical practice, use of lithium during lactation has been discouraged and typically considered contraindicated in breastfeeding.”

“These cautious recommendations arise from concerns that lithium may be secreted at high levels in breastmilk and infants may inefficiently clear lithium, thereby increasing their risk for significant drug exposure and toxicity,” said Dr. Viguera.

In an effort to quantify lithium exposure in breastfeeding infants, Dr. Viguera and her colleagues measured…

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Cough and cold medications containing decongestants, antihistamines, cough suppressants, and expectorants are commonly used alone or in combination to relieve symptoms of upper respiratory infection in children under the age of 2 years.

The use of such preparations have reportedly led to the deaths of three infants ages 1-6 months. The dosages at which cough and cold medicines can cause illness or death in children under the age of 2 years is unknown.

In 1997, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement advising parents of the risk of adverse events and the potential for overdose.

More recently on January 12, 2007,…

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The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) has partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in producing a Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Prevention Tool Kit.

The tool kit is designed for health care professionals, to assist them in identifying women who drink at risky levels and strategies to modify their behavior to reduce their risk for an alcohol-exposed pregnancy. A short guide provides information on screening and intervention guidelines, frequently asked questions, a blueprint for putting screening and intervention into practice, the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Alcohol Use in Pregnancy, resources, and references.

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If you are concerned about how drugs, medications, chemicals, and other pregnancy exposures can affect your unborn baby, you may want to visit the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists (OTIS) website.

OTIS was established in 1990 to facilitate communication between teratology information services, decrease the number of preventable birth defects, provide reassurance about agents that do not pose a health risk, and contribute to scientific research.

Parents and health professionals can access more that 40 fact sheets on everything from acetaminophen (Tylenol) to lice. OTIS is funded in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, March of Dimes, National Center…

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Kudos to Michael Bloomberg for funding a $125 million initiative to reduce tobacco use. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tobacco is the world leading killer, causing more than 5 million deaths each year. If smoking patterns continue, by the year 2020, tobacco will kill about 10 million people a year. It’s important for parents to know that smoking has been implicated in Sudden Infant Death.
In addition to the CDC Foundation, grant recipients include the World Health Organization (WHO), the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the World Lung Foundation, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of…

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Mothers today often question the safety of certain drugs while breastfeeding.

Lexapro is among the drugs used to treat depression. Recent data from a study in Australia suggests that the transfer of Lexapro (escitalopram) into human milk appears to be quite small, with only about 5.3% of the mother’s dose transferring to her infant.

Researchers found that the amount of Lexapro in the blood of infants in the study was so low it could not be detected. In addition, no adverse effects were noted in any of the infants.

This data suggests that Lexapro may be useful for treating depression in breastfeeding mothers.

Rampono…

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