Breastfeeding and antidepressants

[cantankerouscapricorn]

Hi, I was wondering if someone could please give me some advice.

I recently went to the doctors for PND and was advised to go on antidepressants. At first I was reluctant but I eventually agreed that this was the right thing to do. As soon as I said that to my GP, he told me I would need to stop breastfeeding my 12 week old DD. I told him I had read on the NHS website that you can continue breastfeeding while on antidepressants and he seemed surprised.

After looking it up in his book, he prescribed me clomipramine, which he said should be safe. Since the appointment, I have looked it up online. It is not one of the antidepressants mentioned on the NHS website. From what I understand, clomipramine is more commonly used to treat OCD than depression and although it is considered safe in breastfeeding, there are ones that are more extensively researched such as paroxetine and sertraline.

Having looked into this issue, I feel nervous taking the tablets my doctor prescribed. I feel like he did not really know what he was talking about and that it is not necessarily the correct medication for me. I am anxious about going back and questioning this though, as he obviously knows more than I do.

Can anybody advise on what their experiences have been? Is everybody else advised to stop breastfeeding when they go on antidepressants?

Most ADs are fine with breastfeeding, but doctors are often conservative when prescribing because they haven't thought about breastfeeding issues since graduation, and often don't meet mothers still bfing at 12 weeks so they don't get round to looking it up.

Clomipramine is a pretty old drug so actually much better understood than paroxetine - I imagine he prescribed it if you had anxiety as a significant symptom. I'd take it and just make sure you eat lots of fruit and veg to avoid constipation and carry water with you as you may get a dry mouth. I took a very similar AD when bfing and when pregnant, and met a couple similar clueless docs - though all but one checked and confirmed it was OK.

I was told I could BF on a low dose of Prozac (fluoxetine). As it happens breast feeding didn't work out & then my dose of ADs was increased so I couldn't but I was told it was safe.