Pippin replied: "I would do more research into whether or not you can breastfeed on Klonopin. (Depakote is L2 -- very safe.) Looking at Dr. Hale's website, I'm not finding much on Klonopin, exept for one comment that it's 'probably safe.' And I don't have his book to hand. (Dr. Hale is the worldwide expert on meds and lactation. MANY drug-package inserts will say that you can't breastfeed or 'ask your doctor before breastfeeding' simply because they don't want to do the research, or prefer to pass the buck.) As a layperson neither you nor I can ask questions on his site, but your doctor can. If you can safely breastfeed on Klonopin, then it sounds like the problem is solved. (Unless, of course, you have other reasons to not breastfeed.) If it's considered unsafe -- you do what you have to do to be healthy yourself. EDIT: Aha! I found a detailed post about Klonapin on Hale's site. It's L3 (moderately safe) and he says (the question was about premature triplets in the NICU. A healthy full term infant should be even less at risk.): I think its probably OK, as long as the infants are closely observed for the first few days. See my revised monograph (MMM2008) below for clonazepam. Tom Hale Ph.D. ------MMM2008 ---- Clonazepam is a typical benzodiazepine sedative, anticonvulsant. In one case report, milk levels varied between 11 and 13 g/L (the maternal dose was omitted).[1] Milk/maternal serum ratio was approximately 0.33. In this report, the infant's serum level of clonazepam dropped from 4.4 g/L at birth to 1.0 g/L at 14 days while continuing to breastfeed, suggesting increasing clearance with time. Another study of a mother treated with 2 mg clonazepam twice daily recorded peak milk concentrations of 10.7 g/L at 4 hours post dose, and a maximum infant dose of 2.5% of the weight adjusted maternal dose. The infant's serum level of clonazepam at days 2-4 was 4.7 g/L.[2] In a group of 11 mothers receiving 0.25 to 2 mg clonazepam daily, ten of 11 breastfed infants had no detectable (limit of detection: 5-14 ug/L) clonazepam or metabolites in their serum.[3] On infant (1.9 weeks old) had a serum concentration of 22 ug/L. Maternal dose was 0.5 mg daily. These data suggest the low incidence of toxicity with this medication in breastfeeding infants. OBservations: Apnea, cyanosis and hypotonia was reported in one infant at 6 hours postnatally to a woman consuming clonazepam throughout pregnancy. Maternal and cord serum levels of clonazepam were 32 ng/mL and 19 ng/mL respectively. The infant had prolonged apnea and hypotonia. The infant had repeated periodic breathing episodes up to 10 weeks of age.[1] In another group of 11 mothers consuming clonazepam, none of the infants had any reported side effects.[3] EDIT: #2? A thumb's down for offering good, researched info? Ok... (BTW, the medicaleze in the above cut-and-paste is hard to get through, but it basically says that transfer into milk and into baby's blood ranges from very low to undetectable, and no untoward symptoms were seen. (The case of apnea was in a baby who was exposed en-utero, not through the milk.)"