Being pregnant comes with its own responsibilities and risks. A woman who is pregnant has to take significant care to ensure a safe and sound birth of her offspring.
The lifestyle changes may include a better diet, reducing or quitting smoking and drinking, becoming active, and cutting off medications and drugs.
Because some drugs and medications can cross into the mother’s milk, they can be unsafe to use while breastfeeding a newborn.
But does it also include kratom? Is kratom safe to take while breastfeeding? Let’s dive into the subject and answer these questions below.
Is Kratom Safe To Use When Breastfeeding?
To start with, no drug or medication is safe to use while pregnant or breastfeeding, including kratom. To understand the safety of kratom during this stage, let’s look at what research indicates.
Though the evidence is limited, studies suggest that some opioids may enter breast milk and lead to a decrease in milk production. Because kratom acts the same way as opioids do, it is believed that it may not be safe to use while breastfeeding.
Moreover, The American Kratom Association (AKA) does not recommend the use of kratom among pregnant or breastfeeding women.
Kratom And Pregnancy
Using kratom when pregnant can lead to withdrawal effects in newborns after birth. Research suggests that kratom use during pregnancy can cause Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS), which refers to the conditions that happen when a baby is exposed to drugs in the womb.
It seems that kratom consumption during pregnancy can cause some dependency in the newborn. If you consume Kratom frequently and in huge amounts, your symptoms will be more severe.
As a result, if you become pregnant, you should stop using kratom. There is evidence to suggest that kratom use may lead to abstinence syndrome. Moreover, weaning off your newborn could require heavy drugs like morphine, which can cause complications like oversedation and sinus bradycardia.
Effects Of Kratom On Breastfeeding
Because kratom produces similar effects to opioids, it’s important to consider if substances are safe during breastfeeding and if these effects apply to kratom as well.
Substances are a common cause of breastfeeding difficulty. The effects of opioids on breastfeeding are not completely understood, but they may include:
- Difficulty in breastfeeding: Some mothers use opioids during pregnancy to manage pain caused by pregnancy or childbirth. This can lead to a decrease in milk supply or an inability to produce enough milk for the baby.
- Decreased milk supply: When an opioid is used during pregnancy, it enters the breast milk and may decrease the amount of milk produced for the baby after birth. This reduction may be temporary or permanent depending on how long the mother uses opioids before giving birth and other factors, such as whether she continues using them after giving birth.
How To Use Kratom And Other Medications Safely During Nursing?
Though it’s safe to avoid using kratom at all when breastfeeding, if you still choose to use it, there are a few tips that may help.
- Avoid using medications that are unnecessary.
- Adjust the dose of your medications if you need to use them and consume them correctly.
- Consider checking your child for adverse symptoms.
- To allow the drug to clear from the baby’s system, take the medication shortly after feeding.
- To reduce your baby’s exposure to drugs, use the pump and dump method to pump and dispose of breast milk.
- Consider bottle-feeding your baby if you have just taken your medication.
- Limit the use of kratom while breastfeeding to make sure your normal consumption does not affect your baby.
Keep in mind that your baby can still be exposed to the drugs or medications you use because there’s no guarantee that no amount of the substance will be in your breast milk even after taking all the necessary precautions.
What Drugs Should Mothers Avoid While Breastfeeding?
Common drugs that may cause problems for breastfeeding mothers to include:
Contraindicated drugs:
- Antineoplastics
- Gold salts
- Iodine
- Lithium
- Radiopharmaceuticals
- Oral retinoids
- Amiodarone
Drugs to avoid:
- Antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs)
- Corticosteroids like prednisone and cortisone
- Antibiotics like penicillin, ampicillin, and tetracycline
- Anti-malaria drugs like mefloquine (Lariam) or hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil)
- Pregnancy tests and contraceptives (birth control pills, implants, or patches)
- Antipsychotic medications such as haloperidol (Haldol), clozapine (Clozaril)
Conclusion
There is a possibility that kratom and some opioid analogs can enter breast milk. Due to the lack of studies on kratom and mitragynine, it would be best to avoid using it until breastfeeding is completed, just to be safe. In addition to its alkaloids, we don’t know what else is in kratom; it might be safe, but we don’t know for sure.