Breast feeding advice.. undecided..

[cheeriobonio]

Long story short..

Have one DC who is 3. She suffered a brain injury at birth. We were in hospital for 3 weeks when she was born & I breastfed her exclusively for 3 months.

I'm due to give birth to DC 2 next week. Naturally given the past trauma in between pregnancies I was on Venlafaxine for my PTSD/anxiety. Came off it, as advised to avoid all meds for 2nd pregnancy which has been tough I won't lie. Anxiety through the roof.

Anyway. I want to breastfeed in a way as I feel guilty - DC2 will be elective C section so no antibodies given to them as no natural delivery. So I feel to make this 'right' I should breastfeed. However I also feel my mental health is important & I'm keen to go back on tablets asap. I know I cannot breastfeed on Venlafaxine. I tried Sertraline pre pregnancy as this was the one the doctor said was safest to be on if I did want to remain on tablets for the 9 month duration but unfortunately it gave me horrific acid reflux. I just wondered if anyone breastfed whilst on meds for anxiety/depression & if so how it went? And also what the name of the tablets were/was? Thank you.

Im sorry you’ve had such a tough time. Have a look for the drugs in breastmilk website. It’s run by pharmacists who are also breastfeeding councillors. They will likely have the best and most up to date information on what you can / can’t take.

I can't comment about the medication,but I will say to always put your mental health first, however that looks. I'm sorry about what happened with your first baby and I hope everything goes smoothly next time.

When you took sertraline and had the acid reflux, did they prescribe you omeprazole to take alongside it? This is what happened to me- couldn't manage without the omeprazole but with it the reflux was gone.
Ultimately though you need to do what is the best for your mental health- if you need to start on medication soon then that's fine. You could always just give it a few days for baby to get the colostrum and then switch to formula and start medication. There are also other medications such as paroxetine that is breastfeeding safe so may be worth a try before writing off breastfeeding, but you have given your baby so much by getting them to this point- don't put too much pressure on yourself ❤️

Thank you all so much for your lovely messages. @Twizbe just looked at that website, it's brilliant, thank you v much. @Nursemumma92 did not know about the option of Omeprazole, I will ask the GP about it. Thank you all again xx

How about donor milk for a short time, so baby gets all the antibodies and then move onto formula? Best of luck to you. I’ve just had an ELCS it was a wonderful, calm experience. I had no luck with breastfeeding, so DD was bottle fed almost exclusively, and she’s thriving.

Hi OP
I was also on venlafaxine prior to baby, came come off prior to conception but events following baby required to go back on it.
The advice I was given - I COULD take it AND breastfeed. Evidence is limited but it does pass into breast milk. However consultant Psyc told me he had prescribed to women before with (in his experience) no ill effects to baby. I think it was about 9% passes to bm, don't quote me though. For me, personally, I felt this was too high and I (with Psyc advice) ended up trying Duloxetine which works similarly but <1% passes to bm. I have found this to be helpful for me.

Hope you find a solution for you, perinatal team were great to chat with for me. I asked to speak with clinical pharmacist as well as consultant. Hope that helps x

I would breastfeed for the first week or so if possible to get the antibodies in. If you can (not that you'll have much time!) pump too to get some in the freezer to save for when baby has a cold etc. I also had an elective c section and was determined to breastfeed but just couldn't do it and was crying every feed due to the nipple trauma pain - traumatic for both me and baby who couldn't feed well and ended up back in hospital lost weight and bad jaundice perhaps from dehydration :-( started formula then.

You could look into local donated breastmilk although a full term baby won't be a priority for donations.

But remember, whatever the research tells us about the health benefits of breastmilk, the most important thing is a mother who is well and can interact and play with her child.

Took citalopram through pregnancy and still BF my nearly 2 year old. I was concerned they'd want to drop my dose but they were fine with me carrying on with 20 and said it would be better for me to be stable on my meds than unstable and miserable off them. BF was slow to start, milk can take longer to come in after a section and I also lost a lot of blood. Didn't think I'd last a month but got some support (deffo see what's available in your area) and kept going and literally can't believe I'm still going.

I would also suggest the drugs in breastmilk advice through the breastfeeding network, I've used that site for loads of stuff while I've been BF.

I have been on venlafaxine throughout my pregnancy and am now breastfeeding whilst still on it - my gp and the hospital doctors both said that it is better that my mental health is in a good place, the risk of stopping venlafaxine was greater than continuing to take it during pregnancy and afterwards...