Is Sodium Stibogluconate safe while breastfeeding?
Here is what LactMed, the Drugs and Lactation Database published by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), reports about Sodium Stibogluconate. The text below is quoted from that source — it is not our own verdict.
Summary of use during breastfeeding
Sodium stibogluconate is no longer marketed in the US. Limited information indicates that maternal doses of sodium stibogluconate up to 1.4 grams daily produce low levels in milk and would not be expected to cause any adverse effects in breastfed infants,[1] especially if the infant is older than 2 months. However, if withholding nursing during therapy is elected, breastfeeding can be reinstituted 24 to 48 hours after the last dose.
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. A nursing mother was given 1 dose of sodium stibogluconate 1 gram intravenously, followed by intravenous doses of 1.4 grams (about 20 mg/kg of antimony) daily for 14 days. Numerous milk samples were obtained before and for 25 hours after the fifth and fourteenth doses of the drug. The average of the 2 trough values of antimony in milk was 0.7 mg/L; the average of the 2 peak concentrations was 3.5 mg/L at 4 hours after the dose.[1] (For comparison, average background antimony breastmilk concentrations range from 0.14 to 0.4 mcg/L).[2,3] After the sodium stibogluconate doses, milk antimony levels declined with a half-life of about 6 hours to a value of 0.7 mg/L at 23 hours after the dose.[1] Using the average of the peak and trough values, a fully breastfed infant would receive about 0.3 mg/kg daily of antimony or about 1.6% of the maternal weight-adjusted dosage.
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 Sodium Stibogluconate 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: Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), via NCBI Bookshelf, record “Sodium Stibogluconate” (LM641). LactMed on NCBI Bookshelf. LactMed is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Educational summary of an authoritative source — not medical advice. Never start, stop, or change a medicine while breastfeeding without confirming with your doctor.