Leslie:  As you have probably noted from the recent posts, it would seem
that more known entities such as imipramine and desipramine are probably
better than the newer SSRI's (especially prozac because of its longer
half-life), but that all of these drugs require caution in view of the
unknown long-term effects.  As to your question about the age of the
child being a factor, of course it is.  There are two aspects of this:
the first is the frequency of nursing (i.e. if this toddler nurses only
2-4 times a day, the volume of milk taken in and therefore the amount of
drug ingested is surely lower than that of a newborn nursing 8 times or
more in 24 hours; of course, this would not be the case if this toddler
nurses frequently), and the second is the developmental impact depending
on the age of the child and its brain development (again, the long-term
effects of chronic use beginning during the neonatal period could be
presumed to be much more marked than those starting at 17 months).
Another factor in an older child is the child's own ability to metabolize
ingested drugs, which obviously is much better in a toddler than a
newborn.  Hope this helps.  Alicia.  [log in to unmask]