fluoxetine and breastfeeding

[margobambino]

I am still breastfeeding my 20 months old toddler and I have been advised to start fluoxetine by a psychiatrist yesterday. I have started taking 10 mg today and have been advised to increase it to 20mg next week. I am worried about possibility of harming my child. I am not ready to stop breastfeeding. I know it is my decision and nobody can help but just want to hear similar experiences.

Some info from breastfeeding network

Their drugs in breastmilk helpline is 0844 412 4665.

I breastfed DD while taking 20mg fluoxetine daily for quite bad pnd. Was advised by gp that benefits far outweighed any risks. Never saw any effect on DD, who is now bright, happy, gorgeous 3yr old. Don't regret taking it, don't regret continuing to breastfeed for 7m after taking the drug)

I was on Prozac in late pregnancy. Psych, obs/gynae consultant and mws were happy for me to bf (and bear in mind this was a newborn, so someone a lot smaller than a 20 month old). At that point - 5 years ago - resarch indicated that tiny traces of prozac would pass over into the breast milk, but that these traces were so small they didn't have any affect on a baby. To be blunt - if you are referred to a psychiatrist - 1)psychiatrists know what they are doing with meds and 2)you must be feeling quite bad with the depression - so I would take the psychs recommendaton for prozac very seriously.

I was advised to stop breastfeeding when I started on fluoxetine 20mg a day. My daughter was 2 and a half by then so I felt it was ok to stop anyway. But I had put off taking meds for a while because I had wanted to continue breastfeeding. Looking back I am not sure what would have been better...to stop breastfeeding earlier and start meds sooner would probably have been better, as I was not doing very well at the time. BUT it depends how you feel.

I could say far more about this but don't really want to on an open forum...you can pm me though if you would like...