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Cold Medicine and Breastfeeding: Is it Safe?

If you're a breastfeeding mom, you know that what you put into your body goes directly into your baby's. So does that mean cold medicine is off-limits?

Medically Reviewed

After many long months of pregnancy, your body is yours again — you can drink wine, eat sushi, and treat your aches, pains, and illnesses with a wider variety of medication.

But if you're breastfeeding, that's not necessarily the case. Remember that if you ingest it, so does your baby. So, if you have a common cold, is there potential harm for your child if you take cold medicine?

Unfortunately, less is known about the safety of medications while breastfeeding than during pregnancy. "With breastfeeding, there's much less data," says Elisa Ross, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist on staff with the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. The reason is that few women who are pregnant or breastfeeding are willing to participate in a clinical study to see if a medication will harm their baby — what mom wants to do that?

But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tracks reports of problems and makes recommendations on what's probably safe and what's been found to cause problems.

What we do know is this: Medications get into breast milk, but probably in smaller doses than what the mom is taking. Basically, says Dr. Ross, the baby will probably get only 10 percent of whatever dose mom takes when breastfeeding — so there might be only one-tenth of the effect of the medication on the baby.

Cold Medications and Breastfeeding: Dos and Dont's

Many over-the-counter cold medicine products are considered safe during pregnancy, when baby is directly impacted. So it's generally considered safe for breastfeeding moms to take those medications with, of course, the same precautions.

“Go with the ingredient that you need, not something that has lots of ingredients, and not something that has sustained release," says Ross. A sustained release product means your baby will get the medication over a longer period of time. Choose medications with only one ingredient for the symptom that's plaguing you most and avoid combination cough and common cold medicines that have ingredients for cough, sneezing, congestion, headache, and more.

Simple diphenhydramine (Benadryl) and guaifenesin (Robitussin) are fine, says Ross. And you can take ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil) and aspirin while breastfeeding, which were a no-no for pregnant women. Those drugs are "not shown to do damage to most newborn babies," Ross says.

Of course, if your baby’s behavior changes — more fussiness, for example — consider that it could have something to do with your medication.

Ross says it's also fine to use something like Vicks VapoRub or a saline mist. Just be careful that the Vicks doesn't get on your breasts. It won't affect your baby unless it gets on the breasts and the baby eats it.

Herbal medications and remedies are not recommended for breastfeeding women, as the FDA does not regulate them and their safety can't be confirmed.

Cold Medications: Risks and Side Effects in Breastfeeding

Any potential side effects for mom and baby are about the same — and pretty minor. A side effect that affects you will affect your baby, like drowsiness or the jitters.

While pseudoephedrine (Sudafed) is approved for use during pregnancy and hasn't been found to harm newborn babies who are breastfeeding, Ross notes that it can make children jittery. Diphenhydramine, on the other hand, might make your little one a little bit sleepy, but not cause any problems or damage — and who's going to complain about a newborn sleeping just a little longer? Some pediatricians actually given Benadryl to newborns to manage certain conditions, so, Ross says, a little bit in the breast milk is probably fine.

Cold Medicine and Breastfeeding: Check With Your Doctor

Never take any medications, including common cold medications, without checking with your obstetrician or your child's pediatrician. And even if side effects are minimal, it's still best to be conservative when taking cough and cold medicine while breastfeeding.

Ross recommends that moms take as few doses as possible and space them out as much as possible while still managing the symptoms — don't casually take them every couple of hours to ward off symptoms. Take them when you need them without overdoing it, for your baby's sake.