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Prescribing in pregnancy and breastfeeding

Checked: 12-06-2024 by Vicky Ryan Next Review: 11-06-2026

Prescribing in Pregnancy

Medicines in Pregnancy, Children and Lactation

There is excellent advice on use of Medicines in pregnancy, children and lactation - shared with permission from Somerset ICB.

BUMPS

The UK teratology information service has a website advising on the Best Use of Medicines in Pregnancy (BUMPS) which includes advice and leaflets for patients.

Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS)

You can request advice from SPS, who have replaced the regional services with a single nationwide Medicines Advice service.

The contact details are available here: Medicines Advice contact details – SPS - Specialist Pharmacy Service – The first stop for professional medicines advice

0300 770 8564

asksps.nhs@sps.direct

Prescribing during Breastfeeding

Medicines in Pregnancy, Children and Lactation

There is excellent advice on use of Medicines in pregnancy, children and lactation - shared with permission from Somerset ICB.

Other sources for lactation queries:

Advising on medicines regimens during breastfeeding (Specialist Pharmacy Service) advises on strategies for the safe use of medicines in breastfeeding mothers in instances where the medicine cannot be continued as normal whilst breastfeeding. It also includes information on monitoring the infant
UK Drugs in Lactation Advisory Service (Specialist Pharmacy Service) offers specific advice via email or telephone.
LactMed is provided by the US national library of medicine has a useful search function for medicine use during breastfeeding.

Advice is also available from Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS) - see above for contact details.

Efforts are made to ensure the accuracy and agreement of these guidelines, including any content uploaded, referred to or linked to from the system. However, BNSSG ICB cannot guarantee this. This guidance does not override the individual responsibility of healthcare professionals to make decisions appropriate to the circumstances of the individual patient, in consultation with the patient and/or guardian or carer, in accordance with the mental capacity act, and informed by the summary of product characteristics of any drugs they are considering. Practitioners are required to perform their duties in accordance with the law and their regulators and nothing in this guidance should be interpreted in a way that would be inconsistent with compliance with those duties.

Information provided through Remedy is continually updated so please be aware any printed copies may quickly become out of date.