Sedating Antihistamines and Sleep: Safe for Breastfeeding Women and Their Babies?

First-generation antihistamine medications are used to treat allergic reactions but are also often used as sleep medications due to their ability to promote sedation by binding to histamine receptors in the brain. While second-generation antihistamines, like loratadine (Claritin) are not sedating, first-generation antihistamines, such as diphenhydramine (Benadryl), hydroxyzine (Atarax) and doxylamine, exhibit sedative effects through antagonism at H1 histamine receptors in the brain.

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https://womensmentalhealth.org/posts/breastfeeding-and-sedating-antihistamines