[Most anaesthetics can be used without damaging effects of the breastfed child]

Abstract

Breastfeeding women who undergo general anaesthesia often receive conflicting recommendations regarding the need to discard their milk before resumption of breastfeeding. This narrative review describes the sparse evidence to support the current practice of discarding milk as advocated by many physicians. However, individual drugs such as diazepam, morphine, codeine and pethidine should be avoided when possible and otherwise only be administered as single doses with observation of the child. There is an urgent need for high-quality research before sufficient light can be shed on this topic.