May 6, 2007
Pills for Diabetes
Question from Charleston, South Carolina, USA:
I was insulin-resistant approximately two years before becoming pregnant and took metformin to help manage my sugars. When I got pregnant, I had gestational diabetes and had to take insulin to help manage my sugars. Now that I have delivered my baby, I am no longer gestational, but I need to know if taking metformin will have any negative affects on my infant? Have there been any significant studies made concerning metformin and breast feeding?
Answer:
I came across two very small studies measuring metformin concentration in breast milk. It will cross in very small amounts that does not appear to have an effect on the glucose level of the baby. Another larger study of mothers taking metformin and looking at the first six months of development in babies either breast fed or bottle fed did not show any differences. Thus, the conclusion is that breast feeding while taking metformin does not affect the baby.
OWJ
