Codeine And Breast-Feeding Moms - Use Caution

Codeine is commonly used for pain relief and is recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics as being compatible with breastfeeding. Following numerous reports through the Motherisk counseling service and the tragic death of an infant who died from an overdose of morphine acquired from breast milk, Dr. Gideon Koren and his team, located at SickKids and The University of Western Ontario, investigated these negative reactions. Codeine is a 'prodrug' which means that on its own it is relatively inactive. The pain relieving attributes are only activated when it is metabolized, or transformed by the body into a more active pain relieving compound, morphine. Some individuals have a genetic variance which causes them to metabolize codeine at a rapid rate, producing significantly more morphine in their system than most of the population. While this genetic predisposition is rare, women who possess it and who take codeine for pain while breastfeeding can end up exposing their babies to high levels of morphine through their breast milk. This can cause babies to experience central nervous system depression as a result. Read More...

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