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Emily Oster, PhD

2 minute read Emily Oster, PhD
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Emily Oster, PhD

Is NyQuil Safe While Breastfeeding?

Q&A on cold medicine

Emily Oster, PhD

2 minute read

Currently breastfeeding my newborn, and I keep getting sick thanks to my toddler, which is messing up my sleep. Is NyQuil safe while nursing?

—Sick All Night

Messaging about medications during breastfeeding is consistently confusing. If you search for information about this particular question on Google, you’ll find posts that say this isn’t recommended but also that thousands of women have taken it without ill effects on their babies. If that’s true, why are we concerned? The facts do not seem to fit well together.

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With such confusing messaging, it’s helpful to step back to basics. Nyquil contains a number of active ingredients. Acetaminophen, which is considered safe during pregnancy, and a small amount of alcohol, far too small to matter for the infant (more on alcohol here). The primary worry is that Nyquil also contains an antihistamine (doxylamine), which helps with sneezing and congestion but also causes drowsiness. 

Like virtually all medications, this is passed at low levels through the breast milk. The concern is that it might affect the baby. The reality, though, is that the levels are so low (of this and other medications) that this is an extremely minimal concern. This paper highlights the fact that there is very minimal evidence of any adverse effects after antihistamine use by mom and no evidence of any serious impacts.  

Overall, while it is true that some elements of the Nyquil would pass to a nursing infant, there is no significant reason for concern.

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Diana
24 days ago

One thing I’ve found helpful while breastfeeding is NIH’s LactMed database. You can look up a medicine and see the impact that medicine has on both the health of a breastfed baby and the mother’s milk supply. I look up everything, and it’s been great.

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