Pregabalin (Lyrica®)

Last Update: 05 Jun 2025

Medication

Table of content

1. What is it? 2. Pregabalin during pregnancy 3. Risks 4. Benefits 5. Breastfeeding or chestfeeding 6. Key Takeaways 7. Research limits

Welcome to our Fact Sheet on pregabalin during pregnancy and breastfeeding or chestfeeding. The information given is based on current research and may be updated with new scientific knowledge. This information does not replace personalized advice from healthcare professionals.

1. What is pregabalin?

Pregabalin, also known by its brand name Lyrica®, is a medication mostly used to relieve nerve pain. This type of pain can happen with certain conditions like diabetes, shingles (a painful rash that can happen after chickenpox), or spinal cord injuries. Pregabalin is also used to help with fibromyalgia, a condition that causes pain all over the body and makes people feel very tired. It can also be added to other medications to help control seizures in people with epilepsy. Healthcare professionals might also prescribe pregabalin for other conditions such as anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sleep problems, or restless leg syndrome (strong urge to move your legs, especially at night).

By slowing down this nerve activity, pregabalin helps reduce nerve pain, prevent seizures, and calm the nervous system. It can make a big difference for people whose daily lives are affected by pain or other symptoms caused by overactive nerves.

How to have a healthy pregnancy with epilepsy.

Learn more

2. Can I take pregabalin during pregnancy?

If you’re pregnant or planning to become pregnant, it’s important to talk to your healthcare provider before starting, stopping, or changing any medication, including pregabalin. Stopping suddenly can be dangerous.

Pregabalin is usually only prescribed during pregnancy if the risks of the conditions are greater than the risks of the medication. In some cases, extra monitoring may be advised.

Planning ahead allows your provider to adjust your treatment safely, like changing the dose or adding folic acid.

If you need to start or continue pregabalin during pregnancy, your healthcare provider will help you weigh the benefits and risks and choose, with you, the best option for you and your baby.

Always consult your healthcare provider before making any changes to your medication during pregnancy to ensure the best care for both of you.

3. What are the risks of taking pregabalin during pregnancy?

As with any medication, it’s important to talk to your healthcare team before making any changes. They can help you weigh the benefits of treatment against possible risks to you and your baby.

Understanding the risk during pregnancy

Every pregnancy has some natural risk of complications like miscarriages (loss of the baby), premature birth (baby comes before 37 weeks), congenital malformations tooltip, and other complications. These risks can happen in any pregnancy for many reasons, even when no medication is used. This is called the background risk. Research helps us estimate these risks. When thinking about the risks of pregabalin, we compare them to this background risk.

Most of what we know about the risks of pregabalin during pregnancy comes from animal studies and a few human studies:

In animal studies, high doses of pregabalin have caused development problems, but it’s unclear if the same happens in people.
Some human studies show a slightly higher chance of birth defects, especially affecting the nervous system, urinary system, and eyes. But other studies did not find these risks.
There is very little research on how pregabalin might affect a child’s learning or behavior later in life.

Based on animal research and how the medication works, pregabalin might slightly increase the chance of certain problems, but the evidence is not clear or consistent. These possible risks may also depend on other factors like your age, genetics, ethnicity, lifestyle, and other medical conditions. More research is needed to understand how pregabalin affects pregnancy and long-term child development. Table 1 summarises the possible risks of taking pregabalin during pregnancy compared with the background risks.

Table 1. Possible risks associated with pregabalin during pregnancy.

Who?	What?	What does research say?
Pregnant person	Fertility (ability to get pregnant)	In animals, it can reduce fertility, but not enough research in humans to tell if it affects fertility.
Pregnant person	Miscarriages	More research is needed.
Unborn baby	Congenital Malformations	Some studies found a slightly increased risk of major congenital malformations compared with the background risk (3 out of 100 pregnancies). More research needed to confirm this risk.
	Growth (small for gestational age)	Some studies found a slightly increased risk of having a small baby (less than 5 pounds and 8 ounces [2,500 g]). More research needed to confirm this risk.
	Premature Birth	More research is needed to understand if there’s an increased risk.
Child later in life	Brain Development	More research is needed to understand if there’s an increased risk.
Child later in life	Long-term health	More research is needed to understand if there’s an increased risk.
Family	Male’s fertility (Getting a person pregnant)	Animal studies have shown that pregabalin can reduce sperm quality but unclear how it affects humans.

4. Aside from the risks, what are the benefits of pregabalin?

While pregabalin might have possible risks during pregnancy, it can also offer benefits for the parent and the baby. The benefits depend on the individual health needs. For example, keeping seizures under control is important during pregnancy. Uncontrolled seizures can cause serious complications like injury, placental abruption (when the placenta separates from the uterus), preterm labor, and even miscarriage.

Here are some possible benefits of pregabalin during pregnancy:

Nerve pain relief: Helps manage severe nerve pain from conditions like diabetes, shingles, or spinal injuries. This can improve quality of life and reduce the need of other pain medications like opioids.
Seizure control: Can help prevent certain types of seizures, which can reduce risks of injuries and complications during pregnancy.
Anxiety relief: Can help manage severe anxiety, which can support mental health and reduce stress during pregnancy.
Fibromyalgia symptom relief: Can help reduce widespread pain and tiredness linked to fibromyalgia, making it easier to go about daily activities.
Better sleep: By easing nerve pain and anxiety, pregabalin may indirectly improve sleep quality, something especially important for a healthy pregnancy.

In summary, pregabalin can help maintain both physical and mental health during pregnancy. Always talk to your healthcare provider to weigh the potential benefits and risks based on your personal situation.

5. Will I be able to breastfeed or chestfeed?

If you need to take pregabalin and want to breastfeed or chestfeed, it’s best to discuss this with your healthcare provider. Pregabalin does pass into human milk, and while it may be compatible with nursing older infants, an alternative medication might be suggested, especially if nursing a newborn or preterm baby.

If you choose to breastfeed or chestfeed while taking pregabalin, your baby should be monitored for side effects like drowsiness, dry mouth.

To ensure the safety of your baby, discuss your situation with your healthcare provider. They can help you weigh the benefits of breastfeeding or chestfeeding against potential risks and decide on the best approach for both your health and your baby’s well-being. If you have any questions related to breastfeeding or chestfeeding, don’t hesitate to speak with your healthcare team.

Key Takeaways

Pregabalin, also known as Lyrica®, is a medication that helps with nerve pain, fibromyalgia, seizures, and sometimes for anxiety or sleep problems.
We don’t know a lot about pregabalin’s safety during pregnancy. Some studies suggest a small chance of birth defects, but overall, the risk seems low. There isn’t much information on how it might affect a child’s learning or behavior as they grow.
Pregabalin is usually only recommended in pregnancy if the benefits—like pain relief, preventing seizures or treating anxiety—are greater than the risks to the baby.
Pregabalin does pass into breast milk, so if you’re breastfeeding, talk to your doctor about your options.
Generally, if you are taking this medication to control seizures, the risk of uncontrolled seizures is greater than the risk of medication for the baby.

7. Research Is Great, But It Is Not Perfect

Making informed health decisions during pregnancy also means understanding the current state of scientific knowledge. Research on pregabalin during pregnancy has taught us some things, but there are still some limits and gaps to be aware of:

Few Human Studies: Most of what we know comes from animal studies or small studies in humans. That makes it hard to know for sure how pregabalin affects people during pregnancy.
No Direct Testing in Pregnant People: Pregnant people aren’t included in drug testing for ethical reasons. So, researchers mostly watch what happens (observational studies) instead of doing controlled experiments. This makes it harder to know what causes what.
Different Doses and Health Problems: Pregabalin is used to treat many conditions and at different doses. This makes it difficult to tell if the effects are from the medicine or from the condition being treated.
Mixed Results: Some studies found a small risk of birth defects. Others didn’t find any. The results are not clear or consistent.
Not Enough Long-Term Research: We don’t know much about how pregabalin might affect a child’s learning or behavior as they grow up.
Other Health Factors: Sometimes, people taking pregabalin also have other health issues or take other medications. These can affect study results.

Overall, these gaps show that more studies are needed to understand how safe pregabalin is during pregnancy.

References

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Briggs GG, Towers CV, Forinash AB. Briggs drugs in pregnancy and lactation : a reference guide to fetal and neonatal risk. Twelfth edition ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2022.
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Coste J, Blotiere PO, Miranda S, et al. Risk of early neurodevelopmental disorders associated with in utero exposure to valproate and other antiepileptic drugs: a nationwide cohort study in France. Sci Rep 2020;10(1):17362. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-74409-x [published Online First: 2020/10/24]
Tomson T, Battino D, Bromley R, et al. Breastfeeding while on treatment with antiseizure medications: a systematic review from the ILAE Women Task Force. Epileptic Disord 2022;24(6):1020-32. doi: 10.1684/epd.2022.1492 [published Online First: 2022/10/05]
Pregabalin. Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed®). Bethesda (MD): National Institute of Child Health and Human Development 2006.
Dudukina E, Szépligeti SK, Karlsson P, Asomaning K, Daltveit AK, Hakkarainen K, Hoti F, Kieler H, Lunde A, Odsbu I, Rantanen M, Reutfors J, Saarelainen L, Ehrenstein V, Toft G. Prenatal exposure to pregabalin, birth outcomes and neurodevelopment – a population-based cohort study in four Nordic countries. Drug Saf. 2023 Jul;46(7):661-675. doi: 10.1007/s40264-023-01307-2. Epub 2023 Apr 26. PMID: 37099261; PMCID: PMC10279567.
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