Lamotrigine 600mg/d

[Lananoutte]

Hello everyone


I'm currently living in France and I don't really find any information on breastfeeding while taking a high dosage of Lamotrigine.

I'm going to have a C-section around 35 weeks because of a high risk of rupture of the uterus + placenta accreta. I'm currently taking 600 mg/day of Lamotrigine. My dosage will only be decreased very slowly after 2/3 weeks post partum since the lack of sleep is a huge trigger for me.

Given that my baby girl will be premature, I don't want to take any chances and risking causing her more health problems.


Is breastfeeding safe in my case ? Would it be safer to bottle feed her ?

Thank you !

[admin]

Lanonoutte:

Lamotrigine is generally considered relatively safe in breastfed infants. We actually have a number of studies available on this drug in breastfeeding mothers.

In your case, with a relatively high maternal dose, continuing to breastfeed your infant might actually help the infant to withdraw from this in utero exposure over time safely. From the current studies, about 9.2% - 18.27% of the does of lamotrigine transfers into milk.

Thus I'd suggest you continue to breastfeed while you are reducing your dose over the ensuing weeks.

Watch for rash in your infant, which indicates a nasty allergy in your infant. If your infant develops a rash, your will need to discontinue breastfeeding.

Overall, I think you should continue to breastfeed while your reduce your dose.

Tom Hale Ph.d.