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Lamictal and pregnancy
Mon, 02/07/2005 - 20:43Hi everybody
I have juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. I am currently 32 weeks pregnant and take 300mg of lamictal daily and have remained seizure free and well so far.
I am concerned about the long term side effects of lamictal on my baby if I breast feed. I have recently read a paper "Concerns regarding lamotrigine and breast feeding" by Liporace et al which makes me concerned about the babys ability to metabolise the drug. I now think that I do not wish to breast feed my baby, but I am wondering if my baby goes through withdrawel from lamictal in the early stages of life will he suffer long term side effects from this. I know that breast feeding and especially colostrum has long term benefits but i am cautious due to the lack of information about what process the baby will use to metabolise it and how the build up of the drug in his system might affect his growth and development.
Has anyone else information or experience of bottle feeding or breast feeding a baby after taking lamictal through the pregnancy.
Would be gretaful for any input on how they are and if you think they went through withdrawal or any other side effects.
Thanks
Bugsbunny
Re: Re: Lamictal and pregnancy
Submitted by hklassen on Thu, 2006-09-28 - 13:53
I was pregnant while on Carbamezapine and breast-fed for 9 months and my baby is fine. My Neurologist said that the amount that goes into the breast milk is so minut that the baby won't be affected or expience withdrawal. I was just on Lamictal b/c I want to get pregnant again but I didn't like how I felt on it so I went off. Back on Carbamezapine now. But the Neurologist said that Lamictal was the safest and you could also breast-feed while on it also. I have no worries with my next one. I also took loads of folic acid everyday to prevent birth defects.