Combivent and Breastfeeding: An Overview
At this time, it is not known if
Combivent® (
ipratropium and albuterol inhaler) is passed through breast milk. Therefore, make sure to let your healthcare provider know if you are breastfeeding or thinking of breastfeeding before taking the drug.
Combivent and Breastfeeding: What Does the Research Say?
No studies have been done to see if
ipratropium or
albuterol (the active ingredients of Combivent) pass through breast milk. It is also not known if Combivent would cause any problems in breastfed infants if it does pass through breast milk. If your healthcare provider recommends taking Combivent while breastfeeding, be sure to watch for any side effects in your child.
You may be wondering why no studies have been done on Combivent and breastfeeding. In most cases, it is considered unethical to study medications in women who are breastfeeding. Not only are the infants too young to consent to any study, but the infants also stand to obtain little or no benefit from the medication taken by the mother.
Every once in a while, some information can be gathered from women who took a medication just before or after delivery and who chose not to breastfeed. The milk can be collected from these women and analyzed, without presenting any risk to the infants. In other cases, women who are breastfeeding choose to take medications even though the risks are not known. These women and their infants can be studied. However, none of these situations have been reported with Combivent, so very little is known about the effects of taking this medication while breastfeeding.
