Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation

Medicine use during Pregnancy or Breastfeeding

A-Z listings of medicines during pregnancy or breastfeeding

• Source: drugs.com
• Clinical Resource: Database
• Register to Access Content: No

Fact Sheets | Organization of Teratology Information Specialists

Our Fact Sheets answer frequently asked questions about many common exposures during pregnancy and breastfeeding, including medications, recreational substances, cosmetic treatments, health conditions, infections, vaccines, and more. Available in English and Spanish, our content summarizes available scientific information on whether women and their developing babies are at risk because of an exposure in their environment.

• Source: mothertobaby.org
• Clinical Resource: Factsheets
• Register to Access Content: No

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Guidelines on Pregnancy and Birth

• Source: rcog.org.uk
• Clinical Resource: Guidelines
• Register to Access Content: No

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Clinical Information

Indispensable decision support resource for women’s health care providers—reliable and relevant, grounded in scientific evidence, and developed through a rigorous and inclusive process.

• Source: acog.org
• Clinical Resource: Various
• Register to Access Content: No

Bumps – best use of medicines in pregnancy

Bumps is provided by the UK Teratology Information Service (UKTIS). UKTIS is a not-for-profit organisation funded by Public Health England on behalf of the UK Health Departments. UKTIS (previously the National Teratology Information Service, NTIS) has been providing scientific information to health care providers since 1983 on the effects that use of medicines, recreational drugs and chemicals during pregnancy may have on the unborn baby.

• Source: medicinesinpregnancy.org.uk
• Clinical Resource: Leaflets
• Register to Access Content: No

Australian categorisation system for prescribing medicines in pregnancy

Australian categorisation system and database for prescribing medicines in pregnancy have been developed by medical and scientific experts based on available evidence of risks associated with taking particular medicines while pregnant. This information is presented for the use of health professionals prescribing medicines to pregnant women, rather than for the general public to use.

• Source: tga.gov.au
• Clinical Resource: Database
• Register to Access Content: No

Global Library of Women’s Medicine Maternal-Fetal Medicine

Maternal–Fetal Medicine

• General considerations
• Medical complications
• Infectious diseases in pregnancy
• Surgical problems
• Fetal physiology
• Obstetric imaging, monitoring and special considerations
• Antenatal diagnosis

• Source: glowm.com
• Clinical Resource: Library
• Register to Access Content: No

Cochrane
Cochrane Reviews – Pregnancy & Childbirth

Cochrane is an international, non-profit, independent organisation, established to ensure that up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of healthcare interventions is readily available worldwide. It produces and disseminates systematic reviews of healthcare interventions, and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of the effects of interventions.

• Source: cochrane.org
• Clinical Resource: Systematic Reviews
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Teratology and Drug Use During Pregnancy

The purpose of this article is to provide an up-to-date source of information about medication use in pregnancy, to review the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pregnancy and lactation categories, and to further describe FDA changes in drug labeling.

• Source: medscape.com
• Clinical Resource: Article
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Pregnancy and medicines

After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:

• Describe the key stages of embryonic and fetal development and the risks that medicines may pose.
• Outline strategies to reduce the risk of harm from medicines during pregnancy.
• Help patients make informed decisions about using medicines during pregnancy.

• Source: medicineslearningportal.org
• Clinical Resource: Tutorial
• Register to Access Content: No

The principles of prescribing in pregnancy

Articles

• The principles of prescribing in pregnancy
• Questions to ask when giving advice on medicines in pregnancy
• Information resources for advice about medicines in pregnancy
• Assessing risk and informing the risk versus benefit decision for medicines in pregnancy
• Formulating your advice on the use of medicines in pregnancy

• Source: sps.nhs.uk
• Clinical Resource: Articles
• Register to Access Content: No

Pharmacokinetic Variability in Pregnancy

This article will review pharmacokinetic changes in pregnancy.

• Source: ufl.edu
• Clinical Resource: Publication
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Drugs in Pregnancy: Do the Benefits Outweigh the Risks?

Drug use during pregnancy continues to remain a major concern due to the unknown effects on mother and fetus. Physicians are faced with difficult situations as they have very little information to help them decide whether the potential benefits to the mother outweigh the risks to the unborn fetus.

• Source: uspharmacist.com
• Clinical Resource: Journal Article
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InfantRisk Center

Dr. Hale is considered the foremost leading expert in the field of perinatal pharmacology and the use of medications.

“The vision of the InfantRisk Center is to create a new body of drug information concerning the hazards and safety of medications and their use during pregnancy and during lactation,” said Tom Hale, Ph.D. “Ultimately, we wish to funnel this information into an effort to extend and enhance our knowledge of the use of medications and other environmental chemicals in pregnant and breastfeeding women”.

The InfantRisk Center will be dedicated to providing up-to-date evidence-based information on the use of medications during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Our goal is to provide accurate information regarding the risks of exposure to mothers and their babies. By educating healthcare professionals and the general public alike, we aim to reduce the number of birth defects as well as create healthy breastfeeding relationships.

• Source: infantrisk.com
• Clinical Resource: Various
• Register to Access Content: No

U.S. National Library of Medicine
Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed)

A peer-reviewed and fully referenced database of drugs to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed. Among the data included are maternal and infant levels of drugs, possible effects on breastfed infants and on lactation, and alternate drugs to consider.

• Source: nlm.nih.gov
• Clinical Resource: Database
• Register to Access Content: No

Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Protocols

ABM Publishes Protocols to Facilitate Best Practices in Breastfeeding Medicine

• Source: bfmed.org
• Clinical Resource: Protocols
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Drugs in Breastmilk Factsheets

These factsheets are maintained by our Drugs in Breastmilk information service team of pharmacists.

• Source: breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk
• Clinical Resource: Factsheets
• Register to Access Content: No

Drug Safety in Breastfeeding Q&As

• Source: sps.nhs.uk
• Clinical Resource: Questions and Answers
• Register to Access Content: No

Medicine Use in Lactation

Medicines are often needed by women who are breastfeeding. However, there is often a lack of, or ambiguous, information about the safety of medicines transferred to the infant in breast milk. This has meant that in the past breastfeeding has been stopped unnecessarily or a different, potentially less appropriate treatment prescribed.

• Source: medsafe.govt.nz
• Clinical Resource: Article
• Register to Access Content: No

Breastfeeding and medicines

After completing this tutorial, you will be able to:

• Describe the advantages of breastfeeding.
• Outline the factors that affect whether a medicine is compatible with breastfeeding.
• Give practical advice to minimise risks associated with the use of medicines in breastfeeding mothers, and know where to look for information.

• Source: medicineslearningportal.org
• Clinical Resource: Tutorial
• Register to Access Content: No