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On Thursday, I was flying back home, feeling terrible with a cold and my husband was too. He asked the flight attendant if they had ibuprofen and they said they just had aspirin and Tylenol so my husband got two packages of aspirin, each with two white pills. He gave me one and without even thinking about it, I took one package (so two pills, I am assuming that they were each 325 mg). It was around noon that day. I nursed my almost 3 year old that evening around 6:30. I know you’re not supposed to take aspirin while breastfeeding, but it totally escaped me that I should worry about it until today, when it dawned on me that I actually took aspirin. I started googling about Reye’s syndrome and now I’m so worried and don’t know what to do! I didn’t mention that my daughter has also had a virus. She was sick 2 weeks ago for a week and then got sick again several days ago. My husband went to the doctor on Friday and told me that the doctor told him he had the flu, but on the paper they sent home with him, it said negative for both flu A and flu B, so I’m not clear whether we’ve had the flu or not. Currently my daughter is still coughing and has a lot of mucus in her nose, but is not running a fever and seems to be okay. Should I take her in to the doctor tomorrow to be on the safe side, even though she’s not presenting any symptoms?
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Katie: While Aspirin is not a problem in a breastfeeding mother, we don't normally suggest its use. See our recent case report below. Basically, we found NO acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) in milk. Only its metabolite, salicylic acid.
Tom Hale Ph.D. J Hum Lact. ([url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=hale+tw+aspirin#[/url]) 2017 May;33(2):296-299. doi: 10.1177/0890334417695207. Epub 2017 Mar 20. Transfer of Low Dose Aspirin Into Human Milk.
Datta P ([url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Datta%20P%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_u id=28418802[/url])1, Rewers-Felkins K ([url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Rewers-Felkins%20K%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=2 8418802[/url])1, Kallem RR ([url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Kallem%20RR%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor _uid=28418802[/url])2, Baker T ([url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Baker%20T%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_u id=28418802[/url])3, Hale TW ([url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Hale%20TW%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_u id=28418802[/url])1. Author information ([url]https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=hale+tw+aspirin#[/url])
1 Department of Pediatrics, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX, USA. 2 School of Pharmacy, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX, USA. 3 Obstetrics and Gynecology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Amarillo, TX, USA. Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Aspirin has antipyretic and anti-inflammatory properties and is frequently used by pregnant and lactating women. However, its transfer in human milk when administered at low dose has not been reported. Research aim: This study aimed to evaluate the transfer of acetylsalicylic acid and its metabolite, salicylic acid, into human milk following the use of low dose aspirin. METHODS:
In this study, milk samples were collected at 0, 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours from seven breastfeeding women after a steady-state daily dose of 81 mg of aspirin. Milk levels of acetylsalicylic acid and salicylic acid were determined by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. RESULTS:
Acetylsalicylic acid levels were below the limit of quantification (0.61 ng/ml) in all the milk samples, whereas salicylic acid was detected at very low concentrations. The average concentration of salicylic acid observed was 24 ng/ml and the estimated relative infant dose was 0.4%. CONCLUSION:
Acetylsalicylic acid transfer into milk is so low that it is undetectable even by highly sophisticated methodology. Salicylic acid does appear in the human milk in comparatively low amounts, which are probably subclinical in infants. Thus, the daily use of an 81-mg dose of aspirin should be considered safe during lactation. KEYWORDS:
breastfeeding; breastfeeding barriers; human milk; lactation; maternal health; maternal physiology PMID: 28418802
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