Is Nitazoxanide safe while breastfeeding?
Here is what NIH LactMed, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's authority on medicines and breastfeeding, reports about Nitazoxanide. 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
After oral administration, nitazoxanide is not found in the bloodstream, but is rapidly converted to the active metabolites, tizoxanide and tizoxanide glucuronide, which are detectable in plasma. Maternal Levels. A volunteer lactating mother took a single 500 mg oral dose of nitazoxanide as a commercial suspension (Nitazode, Al Andalous Medical Co., Cairo, Egypt). The concentration of the active metabolite, tizoxanide, was 1.4 mg/L at 6 hours after the dose. Tizoxanide glucuronide was not measured.[ 1 ] 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 Nitazoxanide 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.