Is Melatonin safe while breastfeeding?
Here is what NIH LactMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's authority on medicines and breastfeeding, reports about Melatonin. This is a summary of that source — not our own verdict.
Effects on the breastfed infant
A study on 54 exclusively breastfed infants (n = 54), formula-fed infants (n = 40) and their mothers questioned their mothers regarding infant behavior. Melatonin was measured in the milk of 5 of the mothers. Exclusively breastfed infants had a lower incidence of colic attacks, lower severity of irritability attacks, and a trend for longer nocturnal sleep duration. Melatonin in human milk showed a circadian curve and was unmeasurable in all artificial milks.[ 18 ] An 18-month-old breastfed infant was having bleeding episodes since birth. A platelet aggregation test showed that the infant had reduced platelet aggregation after breastfeeding. When the infant was fasting, platelet aggregation was normal. The infant's mother occasionally took melatonin up to 10 mg daily for sleep. After she stopped melatonin intake for 3 months, the infant's platelet aggregation was normal and the infant had no further bleeding episodes, even after major trauma.[ 33 ] The bleeding episodes were possibly caused by melatonin in milk.
Effects on milk supply
Relevant published information was not found as of the revision date.
Levels in milk
Melatonin is a normal component of human milk which is synthesized from the amino acid tryptophan. Maternal Levels. A study of 169 mothers of newborns measured melatonin in milk samples. Milk samples were obtained at 8 am on days 3, 10, 25 and 55 for those with infants born at 24 to 33.9 weeks of gestation or of infants or on day 3 for those with infants born at 34 to 41 weeks of gestation. Median milk melatonin concentrations measured on day 3 were significantly higher in mothers who delivered before 34 weeks of gestation than in those who delivered after 34 of gestation (20 ng/L vs. 8 ng/L). In mothers who delivered between 24 to 33.9 weeks of gestation, median milk melatonin concentrations were stable, between 16 and 20 ng/L, from day 3 to 55.[ 12 ] Ten nursing mothers who were 3 to 5 days postpartum had serum and breastmilk melatonin levels measured between 2 pm and 5 pm and again between 2 am and 4 am. The breastmilk melatonin level averaged 23 ng/L at night, an average of 35% of the maternal serum concentration. Melatonin was undetectable ( 10 ng/L) in milk during the daytime. Six of the mothers collected milk after each feeding for 24 hours, once within 3 months of delivery. All mothers exhibited a marked circadian rhythm of melatonin excretion into breastmilk with detectable levels first occurring in the evening and dropping to undetectable levels in the morning.[ 23 ] Twenty-one mothers collected breastmilk samples 5 times in a 24-hour period between day 5 and 10 postpartum. The median melatonin concentration in daytime milk (10 am to 10 pm) was 1.5 mg/L and the median concentration in nighttime milk (10 pm to 10 am) was 7.3 ng/L. No statistically significant difference was found between the breastmilk of mothers with preterm and full-term infants.[ 8 ] Twenty-four healthy mothers and 24 mothers with allergic eczema were studied in a crossover fashion to watch either a humorous video, a non-humorous video, or no video at 2-week intervals. Melatonin was meas
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.