Breastfeeding and St.John's Wort

[greenbeanie]

Have just had dc3, with previous 2dc have suffered from pnd. Although I didn't take anything whilst breastfeeding once I had stopped I found St. John's Wort really helpful. Does anyone know if it is suitable to take whilst breastfeeding if I need to (hopefully it won't be necessary this time)?

I am afraid it is not. I can recommend you herbs like verbena or melissa. Stay away also from herbs like sage and peppermint. If you are not sure you may visit this website:

www.immergruen.co.uk

greenbeanie - you can ask your HV, doctor or chemist about this. You can share this reference with them:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12927015 which is a study that found no statistically significant effect on the mother, her breastfeeding or her baby.

Zara - where have you found SJW is not to be used when bf?

Hope you get some good help with your pnd, greenbeanie.

oh gosh, sorry I mixed it up with lady's mantle .. I should not do three things at a time. I apologise!! Of course st. johns wort is fine. sorry again!!

Thanks for the advice everyone, I find it quite difficult to get support as I am a health visitor and my own health visitor is one of my colleagues, also my GP is one of the GP's that I work with so all quite complicated really.

Maybe this time PND won't be a problem, and I think knowing that there is something you can take can sometimes be really helpful even if you don't need it.

I thought you couldn't use it either May be worth speaking to a herb specialist / GP / Breastfeeing Network Drugs Line 0844 412 4665.

Its safe to take a lot of SRRIs whilst breastfeeding, am sure of that much.

HTH, good luck :)