AnonymousOh my gosh, you do not need to stop antidepressants while breast feeding (or during pregnancy for that matter)! Now I’ve never told anyone in this forum this before, but I am a pharmacist. I’ve never mentioned it because I didn’t want people to think I should know more about the medical treatment of infant reflux than I did – they don’t teach us that in pharmacy school! As well, I have suffered from depression since my late teens, and have been on antidepressant medications almost continually since my early 20’s.
Women with clinical depression are much more at risk of developing post partum depression than the average. Add to it the stress and fatigue involved in raising a refluxing baby, the depression can be very, very rough for both you and your spouse! I too had harmful thoughts, with both pregancies and after, and I know how frightening it can be! It’s not rational thought, but you can’t help it if your brain chemistry is altered. That is why many psychiatrists feel it is more detrimental to you and your baby to leave the depression untreated, than to have the baby exposed to the minimal amounts of antidepressant that crosses into the breast milk.
With that being said, some antidepressant are much safer during BF than others. Clinical research has shown that Zoloft (also called sertraline) is the safest during BF, because very little of the drug enters the breast milk, and there are essentially no harmful effects on baby. Your doctor should be able to find lots of liturature to support the use of Zoloft during pregnancy – they likely don’t want to treat you with meds because they don’t know better. Here is a link to drgreene.com that discusses Zoloft and BF.
http://www.drgreene.com/21_24.html
I took Zoloft while breast feeding both of my children. I feel it was the best choice for me, because I know what happens when I’m off meds. I could be harmful to myself, or heaven forbid, my child.
Please, please seek help from a knowledgeable doctor, preferably a psychiatrist. Don’t try to tough it out! And remember, you are not alone! Feel free to ask my anything, anytime, because we have a lot in common. I know we are not supposed to give medical advice in this forum, so let me say that this is all my personal opinion, as someone who has been there and done that.
