Advice for postnatal depression

[jeanstone]

Hi everyone

Forgive the long post...
Just looking for some support from others who might have gone through same as me.

I recently had a baby, our 2nd child, and have been suffering with severe depression and anxiety pretty much since day one after he was born (I actually think it started to happen at end of pregnancy).

I am breastfeeding and one of the main triggers for my anxiety is that my newborn will catch something such as a virus that may be fatal - I tell myself that the antibodies in my breast milk will help prevent this. However I know that I really need to begin anti depressants to fix my depression and I don't want to take these whilst breastfeeding as don't like the idea of them passing over to my son. I am told they only cross over in small amounts however who really knows if there could be long term damage as I don't think any long term studies have been carried out.

I am severely anxious and unsure of next steps. I see below as my options;

1. Continue breastfeeding and not take ADs so I can protect my sons health with my milk (however i am sure by doing this my depression and constant crying will continue)

1. Stop breastfeeding and take ADs knowing these will improve my mental health but then my son is more likely to get unwell without breast milk

1. Take sertraline (this is the AD they say passes over to milk in least amounts) and continue to breastfeed. However in my eyes this risks getting into my sons system and impacting him long term.

Drs would say option 3 is best as they never recommend stopping Bf'ing if you want to continue.

Feeling very alone, it's impacting my relationship with my partner - currently we're not speaking and I don't think he's being sympathetic at all - think he's just fed up of my and my mood. I want to stay in bed all of the time but it's not an option to hide away as I have a toddler and the newborn to look after.

Any advice will be greatly welcomed and appreciated will hopefully make me feel less alone in all of this.

Thanks everyone xx

Hi @jeanstone , I can’t offer specific advice on breastfeeding as I formula fed both mine but as a fellow PND sufferer I just wanted to say it’s so important that you get yourself better as you won’t be able to look after your baby if you are unwell yourself ❤️ I was on antidepressants all throughout my pregnancy with no negative effect on my children (obviously that’s only my personal experience) but if doctors are advising you to take them, I’d trust them to know what’s safe for baby x sending lots of hugs xx

I also had PND following the birth of my 2nd. I reluctantly took sertraline. Like you I was very anti medication but actually it got to a point where I conceded and that was day 1 of my recovery.

At the time my Dr said if I had broken my leg I wouldn't have hesitated in taking painkillers.

Well done for the taking those 1st steps. Things will get better; it'll take time.