Cabergoline is usually not used during breastfeeding because it suppresses lactation. The US Food and Drug Administration considers cabergoline to be not indicated to suppress lactation because the similar drug bromocriptine has caused hypertension, stroke, seizures and psychosis when used for this purpose. Cabergoline's use in other conditions has caused side effects similar to other dopamine agonists, such as bromocriptine. Whether rare cases of severe adverse effects occur with cabergoline as with bromocriptine cannot be determined because of the small number of postpartum patients treated in clinical trials to date. However, limited experience from clinical trials indicates that a single oral dose of 1 mg of cabergoline causes fewer side effects (usually headache, dizziness and nausea) than 14 days of bromocriptine and is at least as effective when used to suppress unwanted lactation. Some experts recommend cabergoline as a safer alternative to bromocriptine for lactation suppression, but others do not.[1][2][3] The disadvantage of cabergoline is that it has a half-life of about 68 hours, which means that any adverse effects will persist for a prolonged period of time. Women treated with cabergoline for pituitary adenomas who become
pregnant can breastfed their infants with no apparent risk of recurrence. A treatment scheme has been reported for mothers with hypergalactia that uses low doses of cabergoline to decrease milk supply.[4]