Is it safe to have an X-ray while breastfeeding?

During the breastfeeding period, you should be careful in doing everything because you are still feeding your baby. Sometimes bad behaviors and habits may invisibly affect the baby's health. For example, whether you can have an X-ray examination during breastfeeding makes many breastfeeding mothers confused. The following article will answer this question for breastfeeding mothers. Can breastfeeding women have an X-ray examination?

1. How to determine the safety of medical examinations

It mainly depends on whether the radiation from the medical examination to be done will accumulate in the breast milk and whether the contrast agent will be absorbed by the baby's body!

2. Which tests are safe?

Safe examinations during breastfeeding include: B-ultrasound, X-ray, CT scan, MRI scan, PET, and infrared examination.

3. Can I breastfeed immediately after the above examinations?

You can breastfeed immediately, and these tests will not cause radiation to accumulate in your breasts! However, when doing a breast examination, because the breasts are full of milk, it is not easy for the doctor to observe, so it is recommended that the mother empty her breasts before the examination.

4. Are the above tests confirmed to be harmless to the baby?

When doing enhanced CT/MRI, a radioactive contrast agent is injected into the body. However, for breastfeeding mothers, most contrast agents (such as Magnevist solution, gadolinium-containing agents, and iodine-containing agents) are safe. Although these contrast agents can enter breast milk, their oral bioavailability is very low. Even if they appear in breast milk, they cannot be absorbed by the baby's body after entering the baby's stomach.

5. Which tests are harmful?

There are tests for radioactive isotopes! (They will accumulate in breast milk and affect the baby after ingesting the breast milk.) It is recommended to interrupt breastfeeding for 5-10 half-lives (the half-life of each radioactive isotope is different). Expressing breast milk to maintain milk supply during breaks in breastfeeding