Is It Safe to Have Botox Injections While Breastfeeding my 3 Month Old?

Most doctors avoid administering Botox to pregnant or lactating patients. It might be safe, but it is difficult to design an ethical study that would investigate this question.

Since no young mother will subject their babies to a clinical trial to find out whether there is any side effects with botox injection, we will never know the exact answer. As a mother myself, I think this is a small sacrifice as compare to whatelse we do for our children, since there is minimal risk of delaying botox injections. Dr. Zhu

Congratulations. The package insert for Botox, while giving the usual "it is not known if Botox is excreted in human milk" does give off a pretty stern warning about its use in pregnancy. In rabbits Botox caused maternal toxicity, abortions and fetal malformations. Allergan suggests pregnant women be told of these severe problems in rabbits. In medicine, we always do a quick risk/benefit analysis, whether consciously or not. When we look at the risk benefit here, there is... more

I agree with the others.  When there is no data available to guide us, we have to recommend the safest option which in this case is not to have Botox treatments while breast feeding. Good luck.

No Botox while breast feeding. BOTOX® Cosmetic is a very common cosmetic procedure, especially in young woman of child-bearing age. A concern which always comes up is the timing of Botox around pregnancy or breast feeding. The current recommendation is not to have any elective procedure, including Botox, if you are pregnant or about to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. If a patient becomes pregnant after injection the potential risks, which have only been observed in rabbits, include... more

It is a natural question. BOTOX cosmetic has not been investigated for its safety when breast feeding. We have no reason to believe that it would be a problem. However, responsible physician will not inject you until you are done breast feeding. We simply don't have enough information to say that this practice is safe. If you needed BOTOX for a medical reason, the unknown risks would be weighed by the treating physician against the potential benefits. However, because the potential benefit... more

Many times, I have new moms that are anxious to restart their Botox injection. They really miss how great they looked. However, I would wait. There is no data to suport safety. Enjoy your precious gift. You likely look beautiful to all who love you. Botox will be there when you stop nursing. Enjoy motherhood and congratulations.