The Harvard Mental Health Letter this month (Sept 97) is devoted to
Postpartum Disorders.  BF was mentioned.  "In a recent British study
researchers questioned 2,000 women two months after delivery and found that
depressive symptoms were associated with an unplanned pregnancy,
bottle-feeding, and unemployment by the mother or head of household.  But, as
the reseachers pointed out, depression may discourage nursing and produce a
demoralized state that leads to unemployment or unplanned pregnancy."
The article goes on to discuss drugs.  "Whether women taking psychiatric
drugs should bf is a difficult question.  The known risk is small.
 Antidepressant pass into the milk only in small amounts and into the child's
blood in even smaller amounts; noticeable side effects in the child are rare.
 The concentration of drugs in the child's brain may be higher, and long-term
exposure even to low doses might affect infants in some currently inknown
way.  But spending the first few months of life with a depressed mother could
be worse, and nursing itself may lift a mother's spirits."  It does go into
more detail about Zoloft, Prozac etc in breast milk.
The article also mentions estrogen as a promising treatment for PPD.  They
add that "estrogen probably does not seriously interfere with the production
of breast milk once nursing has begun."  I think some of us may take issue
with that.
The Harvard Mental Health Letter has a web site at:
http://www.med.harvard.edu/publications/Health_Publications/mntlns.html
However when I checked it they still have the August issue up, so I guess
we'll have to wait a bit til they post the September issue on PPD.
Cynthia D. Payne
LLL of Berkshire County Mass.