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Detailed medicine guidance

Pregnancy, breastfeeding and fertility while taking alendronic acid

About this information

This NHS content is written for people in England. Medicine names, availability, prescribing and services may differ in other countries.

Alendronic acid and pregnancy

Alendronic acid is not recommended during pregnancy. This is because there has not been enough research into its safety.

Alendronic acid and breastfeeding

It's usually OK to take alendronic acid while breastfeeding. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist first, and they will help you to decide.

It's not known how much alendronic acid gets into breast milk, but it's likely to be very low levels. Not a lot of it will pass through to your baby, so it's unlikely to cause them any side effects.

It's very rare for breastfed babies to have side effects from medicines you're taking. But it's important to keep monitoring your baby if you're taking any medicine while breastfeeding.

Contact your healthcare professional or call 111 as soon as possible if you notice that your baby is:

  • not feeding as well as usual
  • being irritable
  • being sick (vomiting) or has diarrhoea
  • constipated

If your baby has any symptoms that are not listed, or if you're worried about them, you can also call 111 or contact any healthcare professional.

Carry on taking the medicine, and keep breastfeeding as usual until you've got advice about your baby's symptoms.

View the original NHS website page ↗. Refreshed 19 August 2026.

Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 ↗. MyPHU is independent and is not endorsed by the NHS.

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