Is Propranolol (Inderal) safe during pregnancy?
What the FDA-approved label for Propranolol (Inderal) actually states in its Pregnancy Risk Summary — not a secondhand verdict. The decision is one to make with your prescriber.
What the label’s pregnancy summary says
The label does address pregnancy. It states there are no adequate and well-controlled studies in pregnant women, and reports that intrauterine growth retardation, small placentas, and congenital abnormalities have been reported in neonates whose mothers received propranolol during pregnancy. Neonates whose mothers received propranolol at delivery have shown bradycardia (slow heart rate), low blood sugar, and/or respiratory depression, so facilities for monitoring such infants at birth should be available. The label advises propranolol be used during pregnancy only if the potential benefit justifies the potential risk to the fetus. Anyone who is or may become pregnant should discuss this with their prescriber rather than starting or stopping on their own.
Frequently asked questions
Is Propranolol safe to take during pregnancy?
The honest answer is uncertainty: the label does not have enough pregnancy data to call Propranolol safe or unsafe (summary above). That is a "decide with your prescriber" situation, weighing your condition against the unknown, not a green or red light. The one universal rule: do not start or stop a medication in pregnancy without medical advice — an untreated condition can carry its own risk to a pregnancy.
What does the FDA label say about Propranolol in pregnancy?
The summary above is transcribed from the label's Pregnancy Risk Summary (§8.1). Since 2015 FDA labels replaced the old A/B/C/D/X letter categories with a narrative that describes what human and animal data actually show, which is what you are reading here — not a single letter grade.
Is Propranolol safe while breastfeeding?
That is a separate question the label answers in a different section (§8.2, Lactation), and it does not always match the pregnancy verdict. This page covers pregnancy only. For breastfeeding, ask your prescriber or pharmacist, or check the NIH LactMed database, which summarizes the drug-in-breast-milk evidence.
More guides for Propranolol
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The pregnancy information is transcribed from the drug’s FDA-approved label (§8.1) and mirrors what the label states — “insufficient data” is never rounded up to “safe.” This is general reference information, not medical advice. Whether to take any medication in pregnancy is a decision for you and your prescriber; do not start or stop a drug on your own, because an untreated condition can also carry risk.