If you are breast-feeding, a very small amount of chloroquine or mefloquine will be passed into your breast milk. This small amount of drug will not harm your infant, but it won't be enough drug to protect him or her against malaria. Children taken to a malaria-risk area should have their own antimalarial drug.

Women who are breastfeeding infants weighing less than 5 kg (11 pounds) should not take atovaquone/proguanil as their antimalarial drug. Primaquine should not be given to a breastfeeding woman unless both she and her infant have a documented normal G6PD level. Very limited data on doxycycline indicates that it is probably safe to use during breast-feeding and the chance of a problem developing is remote.

Children of any age can get malaria; infants traveling to an area with malaria risk need to be given their own antimalarial. See your pediatrician 4 to 6 weeks ahead of travel to allow time for vaccinations to take effect and malaria drug doses to be made by a pharmacist.