Does anybody have any experience related to postpartum depressions and medication?Is there a risk for thebaby?

Question

Hello everybody,
My wife has a postpartum depression and her doctor prescribed her Zoloft …
We were wondering if this drug can have any side effect on her or the kid because she is breastfeeding. I called Pfizer and ask them about it but the answer was …”we do not have any information related to that …there is no study made that can prove any side effect between mothers taking Zoloft and their breastfeeding babies … it’s just a matter of trust between the mother and the doctor who prescribed her the drug … if they considered necessary then she should take it …’’
So …does anybody have any experience related to postpartum depressions and medication? Is there any risk for the baby?
Thank you for the pertinent answers …

Answer 1

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?xyzpdqabc=0&id=21&action=detail&ref=24
http://www.aafp.org/afp/20010701/119.html

and at http://www.womensmentalhealth.org/topics/breastfeeding_auq.html
Breastfeeding and Antidepressants
Q. For women who are breastfeeding, it appears that certain antidepressants are safer than others. Researching the American Journal of Psychiatry and the New England Journal of Medicine, data point to sertraline (Zoloft) as the drug of choice. What is your recommendation for breastfeeding women? Should any blood tests be conducted on mother and nursing infant?

A. When discussing the use of antidepressant medications by breastfeeding women, It is somewhat misleading to say that certain medications are “safer” than others. All medications taken by the mother are secreted into the breast milk. The amount of drug to which the infant is exposed depends on many factors, including the medication dosage, as well as the infant’s age and feeding schedule. To date, we have not found that certain medications are found at lower levels in the breast milk and may therefore pose less of a risk to the nursing infant. Nor have we found that any antidepressant medication has been associated with serious adverse events in the baby.

In general, one should try to choose an antidepressant for which there are data to support its safety during breastfeeding. The most information is available on fluoxetine (Prozac), followed by sertraline (Zoloft), paroxetine (Paxil), and the tricyclic antidepressants. Other antidepressant medications have not been studied as well.

We do not regularly measure drug levels in the breastfeeding mother or baby; however, there may be certain situations where information on exposure to drug in the child may help make decisions regarding treatment. If there is a significant change in the child’s behavior (e.g., irritability, sedation, feeding problems, or sleep disturbance) an infant serum drug level may be obtained. If levels are high, breastfeeding may be suspended. Similarly if the mother is taking a particularly high dosage of medication, it may be helpful to measure drug levels in the infant to determine the degree of exposure.

Answer 2

Honestly....if Pfizer has not done a study on the correlation and side effects between mothers taking Zoloft and the breastfeeding of children, I highly suggest that she NOT breastfeed the baby and go to feeding the infant formula. All your wife and child need, is to be a guinea pig for Pfizer. Seriously. Your child may not have side effects until they are older. You don't know what kind of risks are involved here. This is an important developmental stage for the infant...especially in cognitive development. Side effects may not be seen until years down the road. How new is the drug? What are the specific ingredients in the drug (you may not be able to find this out)?

I am not a doctor or pediatrician, but..regardless of trust, the doctor prescribed the medication for postpartum depression, which, as you know, can be extremely serious in some situations. So, I would NOT advise you to forgo the medication in order to breastfeed.

Answer 3

I took Zoloft for about 4 months, starting when my 2nd son was close to 3 months old. I am a big proponent of breast feeding, so I was really nervous about doing this, as I'm the kind of person who wouldn't even drink caffeinated beverages.

I realized that it was necessary for me, and still better for my son to continue breastfeeding. I spoke with my doctor, my OB, and my pediatrician, all of whom agreed that the benefits of breastfeeding on Zoloft outweighed the known risks. My depression wasn't dangerous (I wasn't suicidal or a danger to the baby), but it was devastating. It was so obvious that my doctor knew what was wrong with me before I finished the first sentence.

Anyway, my son is now 2, I have had no recurrence of depression and he's doing great. It helped me get past the weirdness and darkness of PPD, and I would recommend it to my best friends or sister, were they in the same situation. I breastfed him until he was almost 15 months old.

My only side effects were about 2 nights almost devoid of sleep when I started it. I couldn't sleep, but I was not upset about it. When I took the first one, I only cried once in the first 24 hours, and after that, I could control my emotions. I questioned my own emotions for weeks, and then stopped worrying about that too, and just felt like I could concentrate on being a good mother, instead of feeling angry and depressed 24/7.

My son showed no evidence of any effects while I was taking it. He was just a happy-go-lucky baby, and now he's a happy-go-lucky toddler. He does have a speech delay however, and I cannot honestly say I don't wonder if it is connected, but I think that this is my own nervousness about it, and in the past 2 months, his vocabulary has finally taken off. I haven't read of any connection between the two, and I honestly don't think that these things are related.

Good luck to you both.

Answer 4

I took zoloft and i was breastfeeding, it did not affect my child at all, it was a Godsend because i havent been depressed since and i only took it for 2 weeks. My depression has not returnd, the only thing is that i would only take half of the pill. She needs to ask a pediatrician and an ob/gyn.

Answer 5

i also take zoloft and am breastfeeding my 14mth old. zoloft is the safest antidepressant to take while breastfeeding and it should be noted that little to none of the medication gets into the baby's system. if your wife is still concerned she can take the meds at night or at the time that she has the longest stretch between breastfeedings. she does NOT have to suppliement or stop breastfeeding due to taking an antidepressant.
http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/antidepressants-hale10-02.html#Zoloft
http://www.otispregnancy.org/pdf/zoloft.pdf

Answer 6

I've never heard of any risks. My doctor told me that If I got ppd again, and needed medication, I could still breastfeed. So I deduce that her doctor must know what he/she's doing. No doctor wants to hurt someone's child, it's against their hippocratic oath to do so. If your wife told the doctor she is breastfeeding, they would tell her to stop if the drug was bad for the baby.