Is Echinacea safe while breastfeeding?
Here is what NIH LactMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's authority on medicines and breastfeeding, reports about Echinacea. This is a summary of that source — not our own verdict.
Effects on the breastfed infant
Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
Effects on milk supply
Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
Levels in milk
Maternal Levels. One woman was given 4 Echinacea Premium tablets (each containing the equivalent of 675 mg of Echinacea purpurea root and 600 mg of Echinacea angustifolia root made from the dried ethanolic extracts). The total dose of N-isobutyldodeca-2E,4E,8Z,10E/Z-tetraenamide alkamides was 13.1 mg. The alkamides were present in breastmilk between 1 and 4 hours after ingestion in concentrations similar to those reported in the blood with the same dose of the product.[ 5 ] Further details were not present in the abstract. Infant Levels. Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
“No published information” means the studies do not exist yet — not that Echinacea is known to be harmful, and not that it is known to be safe. Your prescriber or pharmacist can weigh your baby's age and whether a better-studied alternative would do the same job. Worth asking before stopping a medicine you need.
Source: NIH LactMed (National Library of Medicine).
Educational summary of an authoritative source — not medical advice. Never start, stop, or change a medicine while breastfeeding without confirming with your doctor.