>Reply-To: >Really-From: > >Synthyroid is quite safe for breastfeeding. > >The best reference I've got on drugs in breastfeeding is Tom Hale, PhD, >"Medications and Mother's Milk". It's published in paperback every year and >is inexpensive ($20 or less). You can get it from Pharmasoft Medical >Publishing 800-378-1317. > >Re: Synthyroid, Hale says "extremely low levels get into breastmilk. > However, the thyroid function of the infant may need to be evaluated >periodically." > >Linda L. Shaw MD, FAAP >Altoona PA > Thank you for the reference. I still refer to the January, 1994 issue of "Pediatrics" (93: 137-150) which, unless I've missed one, was the last Committee on Drugs statement on drugs and nursing. But a reference updated yearly sounds much better. The other point about synthroid and nursing is: what's the alternative? My wife contined to take her Synthroid through her pregnancies and lactation and we never considered stopping it. Since, theoretically, the appropirate dose should only bring the bodies thyroxine levels to normal, there should not be an overabundance for the baby to get. And I couldn't see stopping the medicine and letting an already wiped-out, sleep deprived, nursing mother go hypothyroid - at least not in my home :-). Michael Sachs, M.D. General Pediatrician