Many Moms With Lupus Can Successfully Breastfeed | BabyGaga
New mothers and may be concerned about whether they can due to the medication they take. However, they have nothing to fear. A new study confirms what others have concluded in the past, which is that many moms with lupus can successfully breastfeed.
A study conducted within the Duke Autoimmunity in Pregnancy Registry has concluded that the majority of women who have lupus can breastfeed their babies, regardless of taking medication to manage their disease.
Lupus is an autoimmune disease where the "body's immune system attacks your own tissues and organs," according to the . Lupus can cause inflammation to occur in the body. More specifically, according to the publication, "joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart, and lungs."
The study took place from 2008 to 2018. During that time, researchers studied the pregnancies of 265 women with rheumatoid conditions, 88 of which were found to have lupus, according to the .
According to the study, published in the journal, , both mothers and healthcare providers expressed concerns about the interaction of lupus drugs and nursing babies.
However, of the women diagnosed with lupus in the study:
•Only two were found to be taking a medication that might be harmful to a baby
•Four were going to start a medication that was not compatible with breastfeeding
•The rest of the women's medications would have no impact on the health of babies who were breastfeeding.
Those that at all stated it was out of concern of their medication causing adverse effects to their babies.
This is concerning that women chose to end breastfeeding early out of fears of medication consumption, when women with lupus are already prone to end breastfeeding earlier than they would like.
According to a February 2021 study published in the journal, , it was concluded that women with lupus are more likely than those without the disease to end breastfeeding after only three months due to health issues that arise from the disease.
In another study conducted by the Duke Autoimmunity in Pregnancy Registry, it was found that medications taken for lupus, by and large, are not harmful to breastfeeding babies.
This 2016 study was published in the journal, .
The study was small in scale. It included 51 pregnancies had by 84 women diagnosed with lupus. Of the participants in the study, 25 women chose to breastfeed and were on medications.
The medications the women were most often prescribed were hydroxychloroquine, azathioprine, methotrexate, and prednisone.
According to the study, there was only "minimal transfer" of the drugs into breast milk. As such, researchers concluded that they were "compatible" with , according to .
The same was found with the most recent study.
The conclusion is that when taking the most often prescribed medications for lupus, there was only trace amounts found in breast milk. As such, women who want to breastfeed and have lupus should do so in most instances, knowing that no harm will come to their breastfeeding baby.
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