Artcle about anti depressants & newborn withdrawls

[teddi]

i saw this and think its important to know about

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u ... nancy_dc_1

newborns may suffer withdrawl from meds

[Janehh]

I've read it too; to summarize, newborns can suffer some withdrawal from SSRI's--especially Paxil and Effexor. But the withdrawal passed very quickly and didn't seem to cause any problems long-term, so the conclusion was that, as usual, the benefits outweigh the risks when mom is depressed. My son (born 5/25/02) had no observable withdrawal from Zoloft--maybe because it leaves the system faster? Or because he got a tiny bit from breastmilk? Who knows.
Jane

[teddi]

Breastfeeding would be a very important thing to study in relation to the regular "withdrawl". It'd be interesting and important to know I think, if it has an impact on the withdrawl.

I did read about a longer term study that did seem to show affects on the temperment of the baby (they were prone to worse sleeping habits).

[meg]

Teddi,

That is interesting about the sleep habits of the babies... My dh is convinced that my taking Unisom for most of my pg resulted in ds being a lousy sleeper. Personally, I feel it was luck of the draw, dd was a fantastic sleeper from the start so we were due for some sleepless nights. Seriously, though, I do wonder about the unknown effects on the baby of the various meds. Both of my babies were reflux babies, dd especially so, and I saw in another folder that has been linked to HG recently. I agree with Jane that mommies need to take what they need to be well, but I do wonder what the results are.

[IslandDreamer]

Hi All!

Meg, my ds is a lousy sleeper too. Hmmm...think we should post a poll to see if other hg babies are like our sons? And I did the Unisom/b6 from 10 weeks to delivery....

Suzanne

[teddi]

My son was not a good sleeper as an infant. The only way I could get him to sleep for more than 15- 20 mins at a time was to put him in his swing (and I only had a manual windup swing!!! that ran out every 20 mins!!! and boy did he know when it stopped!!!) or hold him. For the first three months he woke every 2 1/2 hours. He was 6 months before he'd sleep 4 - 5 hrs.

So far my girls (thank the dear sweet Lord Jesus) are sleeping better. They are 8 weeks today and already going for 4 hour stretches.

I did the same drugs (Zofran/Reglan combo) as I did with my son (plus other drugs). I never did use antidepressants though.

[teddi]

About the reflux...

My son didn't have reflux. Just normal spit up. *FOODMENT* The only time he projectile vomited was when Mommy forced him to eat green beans (I could tell he wasn't liking it). Oh boy did he get me back for it. I had *just* taken off the car seat cover, washed it, and got it back on. I had just gotten him bathed and dressed. And PHEWWWW massive greenery all OVER. I never made him eat green beans again!

My girls on the other hand, even in the NICU would reflux back up their whole feedings. Through the nose and everything. It was pretty bad at first (I wouldn't let them sleep flat on their backs) but it's finally calmed down. The NICU had them on Neosure (Similac). I switched them to the Nestle GoodStart and it did get better about a week later.

Dunno if it has anything to do w/the HG in their case though. My HG was actually better managed this time with them. BUT they were 3 weeks early and small (and were a bit slow to stop losing weight). I assumed their almost prematurity/smallness had something to do with it.

[JennyK]

Regarding withdrawal in newborns, I went through Paxil withdrawal and it was awful. Paxil is one of the SSRIs that causes w/d in newborns. Based on my w/d experience, I don't think the benefit of the drug outweighs the harm to the baby, even if there are no long-term effects. My regular doctor (not my OB) told me that recently doctors have become more cautious about putting pregnant women on SSRIs. And clearly there are better options than Paxil.

Regarding breastfeeding, just because a drug is safe/unsafe for pregnancy does not necessarily mean the same holds true for breastfeeding. For example, taking Paxil during pregnancy causes w/d in the newborn, but there is absolutely no effect on a nursing baby. The gold standard for information about breastfeeding a medication safety is Hale's Medications and Mother's Milk. I have a copy, and I'd be happy to look things up for anyone who emails me.