Is It Okay to Get Botox® While Breastfeeding?

Author

Dr. Stephen Cosentino

Botox® is the most popular cosmetic treatment derived from the clostridium botulinum A toxin. It’s used in a wide variety of cosmetic and therapeutic applications, from treating fine lines and wrinkles around the eyes to managing excessive sweating in the underarms and feet.

As a powerful neuromodulator, Botox is highly toxic when not used as directed. While low overall, the potential risks are higher for people with certain medical conditions. This leads pregnant and breastfeeding patients to ask a very reasonable question: Is it safe to get Botox injections while pregnant or nursing?

Can You Get Botox While Breastfeeding?

You should always speak with your doctor before beginning any new medications or undergoing any cosmetic procedure while nursing or pregnant. Ultimately, getting Botox while breastfeeding or waiting until weaning is a personal choice based on your personal comfort level with the situation.

If you’re considering getting medical or cosmetic Botox while breastfeeding, there’s some good news. Clinical research shows that botulinum toxin is not detectable systemically (in the bloodstream or in other bodily fluids) after intramuscular injection. When properly injected by a trained medical professional, the medication remains in the muscles immediately adjacent to the injection site.

There’s also good news for pregnant patients considering Botox. Because it doesn’t enter the bloodstream in detectable amounts, it’s very unlikely that Botox can cross the placenta. This doesn’t mean that you should get treatment while pregnant, as the known side effects of Botox may be worse during pregnancy and there are other health concerns at play. But systemic Botox is not one of them.

Precautions Nursing Mothers Can Take While Receiving Botox Treatments

There’s only a small amount of active ingredient in each Botox injection, and properly injected Botox never “goes systemic.” But purified botulinum toxin type A is one of the most powerful (and toxic) neuromodulators known to science, so it’s okay to be uncomfortable with the idea of getting this treatment while breastfeeding.

Does that mean you should stop breastfeeding early so that you can get Botox? Again, talk to your doctor, but the answer is “not necessarily.” If you’d like to get Botox while breastfeeding, you can take some precautions that let you have it both ways.

Breastfeed or pump right before treatment. While it’s unlikely your breast milk will have any detectable levels of toxin after injection, you know it won’t before treatment. So feed your baby or pump as close to your treatment time as convenient.

Use the pump and dump method after treatment. If you’re not comfortable breastfeeding soon after treatment, consider pumping and dumping at least once afterward. You can supplement with formula or donated breast milk if you’d like to pump and dump for a longer period of time.

Watch closely for possible side effects. Based on what we know about how Botox works in the body, it’s unlikely that your breast milk will be harmful to your baby unless you’re experiencing side effects that suggest some toxin has entered your bloodstream. These may include dry mouth, nausea, headache, muscle weakness, or incontinence. They require immediate medical attention.