Breastfed baby withdrawal to Sertaline, experiences please...

[HeinzSight]

I took Sertraline two weeks before my DD2 was born and continued until about 7 weeks ago. She's now 15 weeks old.

I'm desperately trying to work out why she's so irritable in the evenings still.

Could she still be suffering withdrawal symptoms?

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This article implies that Sertaline doesn't end up in breastfed babies' blood very much. Is it possible that you are having a difficult time, and she's picking up on that?

I think probably it is just I'm having a difficult time, it's just going on and on and on!

I did check, double check and triple check Sertraline and my GP did the same before I started it and my understanding was that the effects were v minimal on the baby, the only possible withdrawal could be irritability. But I don't know how long this could go on for. Surely not 6/7 weeks!

That sounds difficult. What sort of support do you have? Sometimes just having somewhere safe to offload can make life a lot easier ...

Fortunately I 'got away' with the depression this time.

It is pretty tough here tbh. My DH has a paralysed arm, my DS1 (nearly 13) is ASD and hormonal and is hell to live with at the moment and I have a lovely 2 yr old DD1 and 10 yr old DS2, so I guess you could say I have my hands full.

I didn't realise quite how hectic my life was until my Dad and stepmum visited this week and they commented on what a whirlwind my life is right now!

I do find I'm quite irritable at the moment. Mind you, not only did I have my Dad and Stepmum stay on Weds and Thurs (who are lovely) but I had my PIL stay last night (FIL I cannot stand) so this hasn't helped me just now.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eeek. That sounds rough. Are there safe places in your life to let off steam? I would ask if you're exercising, but I can't see how you could find the time ...

Do you have friends you can talk to? Or is counselling an option?

It sounds like you really have a lot of balls in the air at the moment! Is your Maternal Mental Wellbeing team aware of you or your HV? I tend to find when my depression/OCD peaks I am very stroppy and short tempered with the DCs and it is one of the first indications that I am struggling again. Obviously this is just me not you but is this a possibility for you? If you can act as soon as you notice a trigger emotion you may find that you can stop a depressive episode in it's tracks.

I've been on Sertraline since Dec 2006 (PND/OCD after DC1) and am now feeding DC3 who is 6 weeks as well as DC2 who is 2 y/o. I have not stopped taking Sertraline abruptly but have had very sudden drops in supply - DC1 (1.2 y/o at the time) fed a lot even when I was pg with DC2 but my supply stopped suddenly at around 14 weeks so her Sertraline 'supply' was cut off with no weaning/scaling back and we had no problems.

The fussiness in the evening sounds like normal baby behaviour really. If she was withdrawing surely she would feel the effects 24h a day not just at a particular time of day.

If you don't mind me prying what dose were you taking and did you wean down off that dose or stop suddenly? I've been on doses from 25mg at the start of using Sertraline to my current doseage of 100mg.