I have been contacted by one of our young patients who has been happily
breastfeeding for over 14 months.  She has also had a lot of family
problems and is seeing a psychiatrist who has done blood tests and told her
that her Lithium levels are 0 and she needs to stop breastfeeding so that
she can take lithium.  

I contancted her pediatrician, who was not sure about all this testing -
and neither is her husband who is an internist.  So we decided to ask you:

Question - what are normal Lithium levels, how does one make lithium and
does this make sense?

She called me to ask if there was any anti-anxiety medication she could
take and continue breastfeeding because she does not want to wean at this
time - it's too stressful for her to have a crying toddler when she can
calm her down so easily with breastfeeding.

HELP!

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, IBCLC
Puerto Rico
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http://netdial.caribe.net/~prlacta/