Pregnancy, breastfeeding and fertility while taking carvedilol

Carvedilol is not usually recommended if you're pregnant because similar medicines with more safety information are available.

If you're trying to get pregnant or you're already pregnant, talk to your doctor about whether switching to another medicine, such as labetalol or nifedipine, is right for you.

If your doctor, midwife or health visitor says your baby is healthy, it's OK to take carvedilol if you're breastfeeding.

It's not known how much carvedilol gets into breast milk, but it's only likely to be low levels, and your baby will not be able to absorb a lot into their body from the breast milk. It's unlikely to cause any side effects in your baby.

It's important to keep taking carvedilol to keep you well. Breastfeeding will also benefit both you and your baby.

As a precaution, call 111 or talk to your health visitor, midwife, doctor or pharmacist as soon as possible if you have any concerns about your baby. This includes:

• not feeding as well as usual, or not putting on weight as you would expect
• diarrhoea or being sick (vomiting)
• looking paler than usual
• being irritable
• being unusually sleepy