The Nursing Baby - Q&A

Candy asks:
I was wondering about Zoloft. A couple of days ago I went to see my doctor for the postpartum appointment. I asked him if I could take my Zoloft again. I had been taking it before I was preganant but stopped for the babys sake when I found out. Now I am nursing and back to my nervous and depressed self. When I was preganant I didn't seem to feel so bad, which I thought was great. Anyway, my doctor gave me Zoloft again. They are 50mg. I know he knew I was breastfeeding but I don't think he really wants me to take it. He never said anything about it though so I wanted to know what if it is harmful to my baby, and what are they effects of Zoloft to babies. Is it safe? Candy

Candy, Zoloft is listed as compatible with breastfeeding in Dr. Hale's "Medications and Mother's Milk".

According to Dr. Hale's's words in his breastfeeding forum,

I believe that Zoloft is the best choice of the SSRIs because we have the most studies on it( about 30 babies thus far), and none have thus far shown any potential problems. In most cases, the drug level in the infants plasma was so low that it was undetectable. Is is not too practical to try to avoid the peak with Zoloft, simply because all of these products have rather long half-lives (at least 12 hours or more).
However, we do not yet know that antidepressant use in breastfeeding women is absolutely safe for their infants...we just don't have the longitudinal studies over many years to tell us that they are safe. However, most of us in this field believe that the risk of not treating depression, is MUCH greater than the risk of the drug to the infant. It is now well established in the scientific literature that infants of depressed moms are neurobehaviorally delayed at one year of age.

He goes on to point out that the risk of not treating depressions appears to be much greater than any theoretical risks to your baby. I hope this information is reassuring. Happy Nursing!
These tips are not intended to be medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider if you have questions.

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