Can I take digoxin while pregnant or breastfeeding?

A plain-words look at what the NHS, the US drug label and LactMed say about digoxin.

In short

Pregnancy: Digoxin can be taken in pregnancy, with a specialist overseeing your care.

Breastfeeding: You can take digoxin while breastfeeding if your doctor, health visitor or midwife says your baby is healthy.

Your doctor, midwife or pharmacist can help you decide.

What this means for you

Pregnancy

Treating your heart condition during pregnancy is important, as it helps keep both you and your baby well.
If your doctor recommends digoxin while you're pregnant, they'll prescribe the lowest dose that works for you.
They may want to check the digoxin level in your blood with blood tests.
If you're trying for a baby or are already pregnant, speak to your doctor about whether to carry on with digoxin.
In most cases, they'll advise you to keep taking it.

Breastfeeding

Carrying on with digoxin is important to keep you well, and breastfeeding also has benefits for both you and your baby.
Very small amounts of digoxin get into breast milk.
It has not been known to cause side effects in breastfed babies.
If you have any worries about your baby, contact your health visitor, midwife, doctor or pharmacist promptly.
This includes if your baby is not feeding as well as they usually do, is not gaining weight as you'd expect, or seems unusually pale or sleepy.

Talk to your doctor or pharmacist

This page is educational, not advice for your own situation. Talk to your doctor, midwife or pharmacist before you start, stop or change any medicine in pregnancy or while breastfeeding.

The details: what each source says

Digoxin in pregnancy

The NHS says

Digoxin can be taken in pregnancy, with a specialist overseeing your care.

Treating your heart condition during pregnancy is important, as it helps keep both you and your baby well.

If your doctor recommends digoxin while you're pregnant, they'll prescribe the lowest dose that works for you. They may want to check the digoxin level in your blood with blood tests.

If you're trying for a baby or are already pregnant, speak to your doctor about whether to carry on with digoxin. In most cases, they'll advise you to keep taking it.

In our words, from the NHS page Digoxin (nhs.uk). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3.0). The NHS does not endorse this site.

The US drug label says

8.1 Pregnancy Teratogenic Effects (Pregnancy Category C) Animal reproduction studies have not been conducted with digoxin. It is also not known whether digoxin can cause fetal harm when administered to pregnant women or can affect reproductive capacity. Digoxin should be given to a pregnant woman only if clearly needed.

Prescribing label, section “8.1 Pregnancy”: Digoxin (oral), Atlantic Biologicals Corps. Label on DailyMed. Quoted verbatim; US labels are written for US prescribers and patients.

Digoxin while breastfeeding

The NHS says

You can take digoxin while breastfeeding if your doctor, health visitor or midwife says your baby is healthy.

Carrying on with digoxin is important to keep you well, and breastfeeding also has benefits for both you and your baby.

Very small amounts of digoxin get into breast milk. It has not been known to cause side effects in breastfed babies.

If you have any worries about your baby, contact your health visitor, midwife, doctor or pharmacist promptly. This includes if your baby is not feeding as well as they usually do, is not gaining weight as you'd expect, or seems unusually pale or sleepy.

In our words, from the NHS page Digoxin (nhs.uk). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (OGL v3.0). The NHS does not endorse this site.

LactMed says

Because of the low levels of digoxin in breastmilk, amounts ingested by the infant are small and would not be expected to cause any adverse effects in breastfed infants. If the mother is to receive digoxin intravenously, avoidance of breastfeeding for 2 hours after the dose will lessen the dose the infant receives.

“Summary of Use during Lactation”, LactMed record “Digoxin” (LM93), quoted verbatim. Everything LactMed reports about Digoxin while breastfeeding.

The US prescribing label says

Nursing Mothers Digoxin levels in human milk are lower than those in maternal serum. The estimated exposure that a nursing infant would be expected to receive via breastfeeding would be far below the usual infant maintenance dose. Therefore, this amount should have no pharmacologic effect upon the infant. Nevertheless, caution should be exercised when digoxin is administered to a nursing woman.

Prescribing label, section “Nursing Mothers”: Digoxin (oral), Atlantic Biologicals Corps. Label on DailyMed. Quoted verbatim; US labels are written for US prescribers and patients.

Other names

UK brand names (per the NHS): Lanoxin.

Sources

NHS, Digoxin (nhs.uk), page last reviewed 22 March 2023. Paraphrased. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
US drug label: Digoxin (oral), Atlantic Biologicals Corps, human prescription drug, label effective 11 December 2025, set ID dcf907d9-0f0e-4ecc-a555-7e6dcc08c166. DailyMed (National Library of Medicine). Public domain; quoted verbatim.
Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), via NCBI Bookshelf, record “Digoxin” (LM93), bulk release of 22 September 2026. LactMed on NCBI Bookshelf. Public domain; quoted verbatim. LactMed is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Sources checked 26 September 2026. How we source and check every page.

Educational summary of named sources, not medical advice.