Effects of chronic drug treatment on breastfeeding, the composition of breast milk and long-term effects on the breastfed infant

Purpose and aimsThe project aims to expand our knowledge on how chronic drug treatment during breastfeeding affects the mothers decision to breastfeed, the composition of the breast milk and the long-term outcome of the breastfed infant.MethodsThe project will be performed at the Center of Better Beginnings at University of California, San Diego, December 2023 to May 2025.In observational data in the prospectively collected MotherToBaby-cohort, we will compare breastfeeding rates between 4000 mothers with chronic medications for depression, asthma, rheumatic and gastrointestinal diseases, untreated mothers with the same conditions and healthy women.

On data from the same cohort, we will also study the long-term neurological outcome measured with standard testing in 300 infants prenatally exposed to antidepressants of whom half were breastfed, and compare the test results between the breastfed and the non-breastfed infants.

In samples of the Mommy’s Milk Human Milk Biorepository, we will compare the composition of fat, protein and carbohydrates in milk samples from mothers treated with antidepressants (n=300), monoclonal antibodies (n=200), and unexposed mothers (n=200).SignificanceAn increasing number of women with chronic medications become mothers, but there is a huge gap in knowledge regarding the effects of most chronic treatments on the breastfed infant.

This project aims to explore three previously unstudied aspects of chronic maternal medications and breastfeeding.