Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Ivan Goldberg, M.D.

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silver brumby wrote at 2010-11-13 15:32:09
I understand the concern for research on breastfeeding and lamictal.  



I would dare say it could be safe because I found a forum where quite a few moms had success breastfeeding while on lamictal here... http://my.epilepsy.com/node/483670



There is even a posting by a doc where he tested the amount levels in the milk vs. blood every two hours after the baby was born.  The amount in the milk was very minute.  http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/living/women/wei/familyplanning.cfm



The main concern if you do decide to switch is just pay attention to your body and to your baby.  Watch if your baby has excessive sleepiness or any other reaction.  Excessive sleepiness in the above forum was only mentioned twice with moms who breastfed while on lamictal.



I'm 22 weeks preg and plan on at least trying to breast feed while paying close attention to my newborn son.  If that doesn't work then I'll go on to homemade formula feeding and goat's milk.  Good luck on your decision!

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SilverBrumby Mommy wrote at 2010-11-13 15:40:04
Please also note that babies are already exposed to lamictal if you take it during pregnancy.  I personally don't see what a difference it would make to still being exposed as long as you monitor your baby.  There is concern about the blood levels in the infant sure, but they also didn't see any negative effects in these infants that I'm aware of in these studies.  Also, their test samples were extremely small in most cases and not random enough for the general population.  Just keep these thoughts in mind as well!

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