Ropivacaine passes into milk poorly and is not orally absorbed by breastfed infants. Infants appear not to be affected by the small amounts of drug in breastmilk.
Local anesthetics administered during labor and delivery with other anesthetics and analgesics have been reported by some to interfere with breastfeeding. However, this assessment is controversial and complex because of the many different combinations of drugs, dosages and patient populations studied as well as the variety of techniques used. Published data on the use of ropivacaine and fentanyl used during labor and delivery in a small number of women found little or no adverse effect on breastfeeding in one study, but decreased milk production and reduced rate of breastfeeding in another.[1,2] Although not well studied specifically with ropivacaine, it appears that with good breastfeeding support, epidural local anesthetics with or without fentanyl or one of its derivatives has little or no adverse effect on breastfeeding success.[3] Labor pain medication may delay the onset of lactation.