<<Pam,
A question.  Who is denying the mother the option of bfing their baby
when taking SSRIs, the physician?>>


Darlene, this has happened at the hospital where I work several times.  The
first time that it happened, the drug was Effexor (venlafaxine), and the
mom had been taking it throughout her entire pregnancy.  She had been on
many other meds., but this one "worked" for her.  The ped. told her in no
uncertain terms that she COULD NOT breastfeed.  Baby was in the SCN
(dealing with the same type of symptoms that we get when we stop meds like
this suddenly).  When the mom went down to the nursery to breastfeed--the
nurse would not allow her to bf either!!  I emailed Tom Hale and he gave me
some good information on this drug.  The mom decided to bf AMA (and this
was noted all over her chart).  As soon as the baby was discharged, the
parents changed peds.  That baby is around 4 mos. old now and still nursing
like a champ.  BTW, this mom had discussed bf'ing with her psychatrist and
OB, who both agreed that it was OK, before the baby's arrival.

It is not unusual in my neck of the woods for docs to believe that the PDR
is the bible when it comes to meds.  I am constantly gathering information
from other sources to "prove" that a certain med. is not contraindicated.
And of course this is not just a problem with SSRI's, but many other meds.
as well. Sometimes they listen and sometimes they just refuse.  Usually,
the best route is for me to give the info. to the parent(s), and let them
be part of the decision making process.

                                         Pam Holland, BS, IBCLC
                                         Savannah, GA