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Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Original poster

Labour management when on SSRIs etc?

8 replies

ShrinkingViolet982 · 05/02/2023 21:54

Has anyone given birth whilst taking mental health medications (all non-psychotics) and did the hospital manage your labour differently because of this?

I’m 24 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child, having had a happy, straightforward pregnancy and birth with my first a few years ago.
This time round my mental health has collapsed a bit though with lots of anxiety and intrusive thoughts etc. I’m under the care of the perinatal mental health team and they are very keen for me to start taking various medications, including SSRIs.

I’m aware that SSRIs (slightly) increase risks in labour, specifically for maternal haemorrhage and also some short-term lung difficulties in the baby.

Therefore I wondered if anyone had taken them, and if so, if your birth was handled differently because of it e.g., you had to give birth on the labour ward rather than the midwife-led centre, had more monitoring during labour, and/or stayed longer in hospital afterwards?

I have asked my maternity unit and the perinatal MH team but have had no answers so far and it’s not helping me to make a decision about taking the meds.

OP posts:
boogiebabies · 05/02/2023 22:05

Firstly, do you want to take the SSRIs? If it doesn't feel right to you then it's fine not to! Hopefully they can support you in other ways.

Secondly, it is entirely up to you where you give birth. As long as you're aware of the (small) risks, which you are, then you can insist on the MLU. They might say that's fine or they may chalk you up as birthing 'outside of guidelines' but that's fine. It is actually your choice.

If your MLU is attached to a hospital then there's even less to worry about.

shhsleepin · 05/02/2023 22:10

The only thing different for me was I had to stay in 2 nights. A consultant told me I didn't have to if I absolutely didn't want to but I decided to just go with it. They put me in a window bay and actually the time flew by.

Original poster
ShrinkingViolet982 · 05/02/2023 22:22

That's a really good question. I'm not particularly keen on taking them, but I'm also pragmatic enough to acknowledge that it's probably not great for the baby to be cocooned inside someone who is struggling with panic attacks whenever they leave the house.

And I'd not even considered that I could refuse advice re labour wards versus midwife-led etc. The hospital I'm booked in at has both on site (they're just one floor apart) so you're quite right that transfer between them would be pretty straightforward if necessary.

OP posts:
Original poster
ShrinkingViolet982 · 05/02/2023 22:23

Ahhh a window bay would definitely make a difference! Thanks for sharing your experience - it sounds absolutely fine if it's like that.

OP posts:
shhsleepin · 05/02/2023 23:18

@ShrinkingViolet982 ask for a window bay. I let my midwife know that I was really worried about staying in the 2 nights and part of that was seeing no daylight. She then arranged it for me. My baby was also checked regularly - temperature, HR. She was absolutely fine.

My consultant told me they'd rather have mums take their medication as it's better for the baby to have a happy/calm mum.

Lilbunnyfufu · 08/04/2023 20:25

ShrinkingViolet982 · 05/02/2023 21:54

Has anyone given birth whilst taking mental health medications (all non-psychotics) and did the hospital manage your labour differently because of this?

I’m 24 weeks pregnant with my 2nd child, having had a happy, straightforward pregnancy and birth with my first a few years ago.
This time round my mental health has collapsed a bit though with lots of anxiety and intrusive thoughts etc. I’m under the care of the perinatal mental health team and they are very keen for me to start taking various medications, including SSRIs.

I’m aware that SSRIs (slightly) increase risks in labour, specifically for maternal haemorrhage and also some short-term lung difficulties in the baby.

Therefore I wondered if anyone had taken them, and if so, if your birth was handled differently because of it e.g., you had to give birth on the labour ward rather than the midwife-led centre, had more monitoring during labour, and/or stayed longer in hospital afterwards?

I have asked my maternity unit and the perinatal MH team but have had no answers so far and it’s not helping me to make a decision about taking the meds.

I was taking sertraline 100mg during my last 2 pregnancies and I had to stay in hospital for a minimum of 72 hours for the babies to be monitored.
I was in hospital exactly 72 hours with the one but the other I was in for 5 days because he was having withdrawal symptoms.
They say sertraline is safe to take during pregnancy but if I was ever to get pregnant again I wouldn't take the pills while pregnant due to my last one having withdrawal symptoms from them.

I wanted to come of them during my pregnancies but my mental health wasn't stable enough too according to the phycologist.

Emily29 · 08/04/2023 20:32

I took Sertraline in my pregnancy with no issues whatsoever. Midwife's and consultants all onboard with it throughout and no reason to treat pregnancy or labour any differently.

SirSamVimesCityWatch · 08/04/2023 21:13

I took sertraline all through my pregnancy with dd2. I was already on it when I got pregnant. I was still able to have a home birth. The midwives did then want me to go to hospital to observe DD in case of withdrawal which I hadn't been told about; I wasn't happy with that idea so they just hung around a bit longer and told us what to look for. I was on a very low dose so in a different part of the country obs wouldn't even be recommended, which I why they let me off.

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