Tweet
I am currently nursing a healthy, 6 week old, 12lb baby as well as taking 1/2mg of clonopin once but sometimes twice per day. My infant is doing well and does not seem to exhibit adverse effects. I still worry that she might be harmed by this in some unforeseen way. I am further bothered/worried by the fact that the milk bank will not take a donation from me while I am taking this prescription. What dose is the max acceptable amount of clonopin that a nursing mother can take safely? Also, at what point after my dose is the medication at the highest potency in my milk? Is there a peak time?
-
-
Avivatx:
We have quite a few studies on Clonazepam in breastfeeding mothers. Only one, in which the infant was exposed during pregnancy did the infant have some symptoms of excessive periodic breathing and apnea and cyanosis. This was a 36 week baby, which are prone to problems anyway.
Other studies at lower doses (1/2 - 1 mg daily) don't show any problems. In a group of 11 mothers receiving 0.25 to 2 mg clonazepam daily, 10 of 11 breastfed infants had no detectable (limit of detection: 5-14 ?g/L) clonazepam or metabolites in their serum. One infant (1.9 weeks old) had a serum concentration of 22 ?g/L. Maternal dose was 0.5 mg daily.
So I'd suggest at 6 weeks postpartum, and at a dose of 1 mg per day, your infant is at virtually no risk from this drug.
As for the milk bank, don't be perturbed by there refusing your milk. Depending on the bank, they refuse milk from most any mother taking most any drug.
As for peak, its 1-4 hours after administration, but this drug has such a long half-life (18-50 hours), that trying to avoid the peak is not worth the effort. I'd just relax and enjoy your infant.
Tom Hale Ph.d.
Comment