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Lorazepam while breastfeeding 27 month old

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  • Lorazepam while breastfeeding 27 month old

    Hello, I'm looking for professional advice on whether or not to take lorazepam for anxiety. I am breastfeeding my 27 month old daughter. She nurses upon awakening, for nap time and to go to sleep. However, we bed share and she nurses at night so I don't have an exact number of times that she nurses in a 24 hr period. She drinks a little (3-5oz?) of cows milk during the day and eats a healthy diet. Because of her age, my milk production isn't very high but she is obviously getting quite a bit still. I'm going through a difficult time right now and finding it difficult to manage my mood. I'm doing "ok" without medication but I feel very anxious much of the time. It's not interfering AT ALL with how I care for my children. For this reason, I feel very selfish even entertaining the thought of taking a prescription pharmaceutical just to make me "feel better". On the other hand, I know maternal health is important and I don't think it's good for my body to always be feeling stressed and anxious. I DO NOT want to stop BF my daughter. I also worry about her getting drugs she obviously doesn't need; I greatly worry about any impacts this may have on her, long term and short term. I feel very stressed about this. The last thing I want to do is negatively impact my little girl by giving her my milk!!! I would greatly appreciate a professionals input on this. Thank you so much in advance!

  • #2
    Hi, thanks for your post.

    There are no "hidden" risks to lorazepam and other benzodiazepines. Having looked in the literature, I can safely say that no one has described neurological or developmental problems in children exposed to small amounts of these drugs. There are also no clinically relevant differences in how toddlers metabolize these medications as compared with adults. In other words, what you see is what you get with this drug class. An exclusively BF infant only gets about 2-3% of your daily dose through the milk and your child will be getting a lot less than that because of your low milk production. I advise that you start taking the lorazepam and keep an eye on your child's alertness and sleeping habits. If she seems overly sedated in the first couple of days, you can try delaying BF for 4 hours after taking the pill and/or reducing your dose.

    Many women with anxiety get significant benefit from an SSRI like Celexa or Lexapro. These meds take 4-8 weeks to start working properly but generally provide a slow, consistent relief as opposed to the ups and downs from lorazepam. They are also safe to use while breastfeeding. Talk to your doctor to see what's right for you.

    Please call us at the InfantRisk Center if this has not completely answered your question.*(806)352-2519

    -James Abbey, MD

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