Pregnancy, breastfeeding and fertility while taking labetalol

Labetalol and pregnancy

It's important to treat high blood pressure during pregnancy. This will help you and your baby to stay healthy.

You can take labetalol while you are pregnant. Labetalol can affect the baby's growth in the womb so you may be offered extra scans to check that your baby is growing OK.

There's also a small chance that labetalol can affect a baby's blood sugar levels just after birth. For this reason your baby may have their blood sugar levels monitored in hospital for the first 24 hours to make sure everything is OK before you go home.

Talk to your doctor about the best treatment for you.

As well as taking any prescribed medicines, you can help high blood pressure in pregnancy by making some key lifestyle changes:

• stop smoking in pregnancy
• avoid alcohol during pregnancy
• exercise in pregnancy regularly
• have a healthy diet throughout your pregnancy
• try to avoid stress

Labetalol and breastfeeding

If your doctor or health visitor says that your baby is healthy, it's OK to take labetalol while breastfeeding.

Labetalol passes into breast milk in tiny amounts. It's unlikely to cause any side effects in your baby.

It's important to treat your high blood pressure to keep you well. Breastfeeding will also benefit both you and your baby.

If your baby is not feeding as well as usual, seems unusually sleepy, looks much paler than usual, or you have any other concerns about your baby, talk to your doctor, pharmacist, midwife or health visitor.

Labetalol and fertility

There's no evidence to suggest that taking labetalol reduces fertility in either men or women.

But speak to a pharmacist or your doctor if you're trying to get pregnant.

For more information about how labetalol can affect you and your baby during pregnancy, visit the Best Use of Medicines in Pregnancy (BUMPS) website.