Study Says Women Taking Depakote Can Safely Breast-Feed

Atlanta, GAA new study indicates that women taking epilepsy drugs can safely breast-feed, while the risk of Depakote birth defects still exists for pregnant women taking the drug, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">According to the study, children whose mothers took Depakote or other epilepsy drugs while breast-feeding did not appear to suffer any negative cognitive effects by the age of three, the news source said.

The study examined nearly 200 children whose mothers took one of the four major anti-seizure drugs and found no difference in IQ level among those who were breast-fed and those who were given formula.

"For women who have epilepsy, this is one less thing that they as new mothers have to worry about," said lead author Dr. Kimford Meador, a professor of neurology at Emory University in Atlanta.

Despite the results of the study, Depakote use during the first trimester of pregnancy has been reported to lead to an unusually high number of mothers giving birth to children with spina bifida, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.