The MotherSafe experience: demystifying perceptions regarding treating pregnant or breastfeeding mothers

MotherSafe is a state-wide service operating in New South Wales, Australia. MotherSafe offers counselling services for pregnant or breastfeeding mothers regarding the potential effects of exposure to medications, radiation, possible environmental hazards, street drugs or household products, as well as the effects of occupation upon pregnancy and breastfeeding outcomes. Consumers call MotherSafe to check advice having been given by healthcare professionals, only to find that the advice has been unnecessarily alarming to the woman, and in many cases it is incorrect purely because the advice that has been provided is based upon a construct that has considered the pregnancy categorisation of the drug as an absolute fact, or upon an assumption that information relevant to pregnancy is also applicable to breastfeeding as well. Outlined here are a series of issues that should be considered in the provision of advice on these issues as they relate to pregnancy and breastfeeding, as well as a summary of the resources available to inform evidence-based advice.