Sensitivity of the young infant to drug exposure through human milk

In spite of significant exposure to drugs and chemicals through breast milk, there are very few reports of documented adverse effects on the infant. It is perhaps appropriate to consider that the presence of drugs and chemicals in milk may have a positive effect on developmental processes of the young infant. New experimental techniques coupled with increasing sensitive assays for chemical moieties present opportunities for measuring the effect of such chemicals on development processes in the neonate and young infant.