Breastfeeding Erythromycin

Hales is the most respected site for drugs and breastfeeding. A second one is safefetus.com which has info during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Like Hales, it has it listed as 'compatible with breastfeeding'.

That said, if you want to minimize the amount your baby gets, feed your baby immediately before or immediately after taking a dose. Then hopefully she won't need to eat again for at least 3 hours, so she won't eat when the drug concentration is highest in your body and thus she'll get a lower dose. I know newborns are unpredictable with eating patterns, so it might not work great, but it's the best you can do.

Hi, B.:

Talk to your pharmacist. Good luck.
Are you allergic to Penicillin?

Good luck. Thanks for caring about your baby.
D.

In my 2006 Dr. Hale's "Medications & Mother's Milk" book (the Bible of medications and pregancy/breastfeeding) it is listed as an L1, which is the safest possible level. It's the same risk category as Tylenol or a multi-vitamin! Perfectly safe to take!
There have been NO pediatric concerns reported via breastmilk; there is a small risk of diarrhea (and breastmilk is the perfect cure/treatment for that!). The book suggests that the bioavailability is very poor (ie: the infant gets very, very, very little of what you're ingesting of this medication).

Keep on nursing & I hope you feel better soon!!!

The best, most respected source of medications and breastfeeding is found on the Thomas Hale site. He publishes Medications and Mother's Milk, but here is a link into his medications forum (you can' post a question, but you can read what he writes to doctors):
http://neonatal.ttuhsc.edu/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi?pg=t...

I have his 2008 book. Here is the info on erythromycin:
-- listed as an L2 (safe)
-- has a peak plasma level 2 to 4 hours after taking it (meaning it is at it's most concentrated in your blood at that time)
-- has a very short half life of 1.5 to 2 hours (meaning your body processes it out of your system fast - this is good.
-- has a relative Infant does of 1.7% of what you take BUT
-- Also has a high Protein binding capacity of 84% (high protein binding capacities have a hard time passing into milk.

HOWEVER . . . Hale warns that use of this drug in breastfeeding mothers with VERY YOUNG NEWBORNS runs the risk of the child developing infantile hypertrophic stenosis (though the study was from 2003).

If you really need to be on it, try to nurse around the peak plasma level. Once your child hits 7 to 8 weeks, I would take this medication without worry.

check www.kellymom.com. they have a table of medicines and if they are safe or not. search on the site for antibiotics and you should find it.

www.kellymom.com is a great breastfeeding resource. It has a section on the website list commonly prescribed medications and there effects on babies.