Is Levofloxacin safe while breastfeeding?
Here is what NIH LactMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's authority on medicines and breastfeeding, reports about Levofloxacin. 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 levofloxacin 500 mg daily intravenously for 9 days, then orally for 17 days. Twenty-six breastmilk samples were obtained, beginning on day 10 of therapy and continued for 6 days after the discontinuation of therapy. A pharmacokinetic model that was developed predicted that a peak milk level of 8.2 mg/L would occur 5 hours after the dose. The milk levels fell with an estimated half-life of 7 hours. Traces of levofloxacin were still detectable in breastmilk 65 hours after the dose. The authors calculated that an exclusively breastfed infant whose mother was taking 500 mg daily would receive 1.25 mg daily in breastmilk, which is far below the dose of levofloxacin used in children.[ 4 ] Two nursing mothers each took one 500 mg capsule of levofloxacin (Tavanic-Sanofi, Istanbul) orally. Eleven complete collections of breastmilk were taken over the following 24 hours. Peak levofloxacin milk levels of 265 and 258 mcg/L occurred at 2.5 and 3 hours, respectively, in the two mothers. Average milk levels were 101 and 105, mcg/L, respectively. The half-lives in milk were 4.95 and 5.33 hours, respectively.[ 5 ] Using the average milk levels, a fully breastfed infant would receive an average of 15.5 mcg/kg daily. Five women with atypical pneumonia were receiving intravenous levofloxacin 400 mg once daily. Milk samples were collected at 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 24 hours after the last dose of the drug. The peak milk level averaged 14.6 mg/L and occurred at 0.5 hours after the dose. The half-life in milk averaged 4.57 hours. The daily infant dosage was 0.4 mcg/kg for exclusively breastfed infants, which is less than 10% of the recommended therapeutic dose for 0 to 12-month-old infants (10 mg/kg once daily). This translated into an average relative infant dose of 6.1%. The authors recommended waiting for 1 hour or longer after a dose to resume breastfeeding after a dose to reduce the infant exposure. Five other women who collected milk samp
Alternatives LactMed lists
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.