Setraline or Paroxetine while breast feeding

[bgb21]

I'm currently 11months pp and have had horrible anxiety and mood swings since giving birth. I am still breast feeding and baby is no way near ready to stop. I denied it was PND but not with some other symptoms I feel like it is. I've taken setraline before I was pregnant for a few years and after some research I concluded that setraline and Paroxetine are the safest to take while breast feeding, has anyone got any experiences/ if you have taken either how are your kids / babies now developmentally? I'm worried it will affect my babies brain development if I take them. TIA!

I'd be wary of paroxetine. It's a very strong SSRI - I believe the strongest of them all.

I'd stick with the sertraline, especially since you're familiar with it.

Oh, and I didn't take either of those but I did have imipramine while breastfeeding. DS is a perfectly healthy teenager.

Thank you for your response.. i have heard some opposing stuff about Paroxetine but mostly positive about setraline, apparently they are the safest to take based on research and the GP hasn't got a clue about any of this so it's really up to me to do my research.

Most doctors go for either sertraline or citalopram I think. I took citalopram from when my daughter was about 3 months old and breastfed her till she was over 3 years. She is a bright as a button, 6 years old now and thriving. She may be autistic but this is not a suprise as my husband is (and possibly me too!) My GP chose it because I'd been on it a few years before and had responded well. There isn't much research done as it's obviously a tricky field. The breastfeeding network has some information sheets on drugs in breast milk which you may find reassuring... www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/factsheet/antidepressants/

I was under the care of a psychiatrist while bf DD. I was on paroxetine for a while as it was considered the safest by the psychiatrist. It didn’t really help so I was switched to sertraline with some quetiapine to boost it (I was very very ill).
DD is now 10 and showing no ill effects. If you have a specialist perinatal mh team near you you may be able to get referred and they can advise you.
Hope it all works out well for you

Thank you for your response. That's reassuring! I sometimes worry that if it goes through to her she'll get mental health issues down the line too! I don't know if that's just anxiety

Thank you for your response.. Were you on the highest dose of Paroxetine? I'm almost scared of Paroxetine because of all the bad press and I worry that it will lead me into mania or that I will lose control of myself, again could be my anxiety, but knowing I've taken setraline before it feels like a safer option.. I'm 11 months post partum so im unsure if I'll be able to get perinatal mental health help but I have a GP appointment Monday so I will ask.

I took quite a few medications both in pregnancy and breastfeeding, some of which were on the do not take list but perinatal said benefits out weighed risk. My kids are fine no problems all though taking imipramine during pregnancy likely contributed to her prem birth.
I would try sertraline first breastfeeding, but if that doesn't work there are lots of others that are nursing safe especially by the time baby is 11 months . Have a look on lactmed 🙂

Thank you that's reassuring 😊 I am thinking to give setraline a go as it's been a while since I've had it, and then paroxetine if that fails. I wish the GP were more informed on mental health/ breast feeding etc.. when I first had mental health concerns the doctor advised me I stop breastfeeding so I tried CBT but it did nothing and have tried to endure it afterward but it's too much now i want to feel like myself

I was on a medium dose of paroxetine 20mg I think. In some areas perinatal MH goes up to 24 months post part and certainly 12 months so it’s worth asking.
I agree it’s hard to find a GP with in depth knowledge as they are generalists by profession so trying to get them to refer to more specialist services is a good idea.

Clearly this can't be individual medical advice but my go-to SSRI for pregnant and breastfeeding women is always sertraline. Actually it's my go-to SSRI for everyone, because it has such a nice flexible dose range.

I took Sertraline whilst breastfeeding. Baby was 10 months when I started, and I took it whilst feeding him. He was 22 months when he stopped breastfeeding.

I think I took 100mg a day, started on 50mg. I may even have gone up to 150mg.

My beautiful baby is 16 now. He's lovely, very bright ! Predicted A's and B's at GCSE. He is very laid back - was like this anyway as a baby.

I noticed my anxiety and low mood improved quickly when I started the meds. He did naturally wean, so there wasn't an abrupt stop to breastfeeding.

It literally changed my life, I hadn't realised how shit I was actually feeling. I remember the health visitor coming to the house a few weeks after I started the meds. I was like a diff person. I'd been wearing clothes too big for me, no make up (I don't wear jt all the time anyway!) When she came, I'd been clothes shopping/done my hair etc.

I'd got to the point that I was so anxious, I wasn't sleeping. I was ruminating and getting so anxious about the children. I was worrying about people abducting the children, and was also grieving the loss of my mum, 3 months after having him

I had 2 under 2, the Sertraline made life so much better. I did have to finish the grieving when I was off the Sertraline, and the kids were older. I'm not sure if that was because of the meds not letting me feel everything, or just that I had been too busy with the babies to actually grieve.

I have now been diagnosed with ADHD, and realise that what I needed was adhd meds. As this has made a huge difference to my anxiety/low mood etc.

Never stopped my sertraline for any of my pregnancies x 4 and never had any problems with it