Moms With IBD: Keep Taking Your Thiopurine!

There is positive news for breastfeeding moms suffering from inflammatory bowel disease...New research shows that your breast milk is unlikely to contain harmful levels of thiopurine, a drug used to maintain remission in IBD.

Dr L Christensen from Århus University Hospital, Denmark explains that “treatment during pregnancy is generally recommended to improve the chance of a normal birth outcome, but advice concerning breastfeeding is conflicting.” The researchers studied eight lactating women with IBD who were receiving maintenance therapy with azathioprine at a dose of 75–200 mg daily. The women supplied milk and blood samples 30 and 60 minutes after taking the drug and then hourly for the following 5 hours. There was an increase in azathioprine levels in the milk samples during this time, but the concentrations were low and determined unlikely to have any negative effect on the health of infants. Dr. Christensen and his team concluded that “the present findings confirm that breastfeeding during treatment with [azathioprine] generally seems safe and should be recommended considering the otherwise beneficial effects."