insomnia during breastfeeding

[Usunita]

I have a 5-month-old girl who is exclusively breastfed and weighs 7.5kg.
I have anxiety and insomnia. I occasionally take lorazepam 0.5mg if I need to. My doctor also recommended that I take melatonin daily.
It distresses me that I could harm her at a developmental level. But I'm really having a hard time.
experiences taking melatonin? Do you have to wait two hours to give it again? Could I take 2mg?
thank you.

[nicholec]

I am sorry you are experiencing anxiety and insomnia. Melatonin is natural in our bodies and passed into breast milk in the evening hours which helps baby sleep! Hooray for this! We do know that more will pass into milk when supplements are taken. Unfortunately there is not a large study to pull from, so the answer to how much and whether or not it is dangerous is variable. A recent study that tested melatonin products for children and adults showed that some products had over 478% more melatonin than the label stated and some contained CBD (not on the label). This is one of the main reasons we do not recommend supplements to nursing mothers. What may seem like an innocent, low dose, could potentially cause harm since large doses have not been studied. The FDA does not verify that supplements contain what the bottle states unless something negative grabs their attention for review. We have new data on buspirone that shows low drug transfer into breast milk. I would suggest speaking to your provider and discussing if it might be a good option for you.

Buspirone article: [url]https://link.springer.com/epdf/10.1007/s00737-024-01445-1?sharing_token=oU18RnSxBYJLSwJwvmQtyfe4RwlQNchNBy i7wbcMAY7RlHijqGn7UfNjhvOpUPh-0sfs-Vp69GgmH960RBrk5yssdWchR_3J_AxswA-BjhyRZSPIa08hcmEhdjzLH3HnN8v1HcX5v7-QNlN7aExF3SuK86Xy2jw0B5iVo19UXa8%3D[/url]

Nichole Campbell, MSN, APRN, NP-C