I just saw a reference for an article regarding sertaline and breastfeeding
in my new Journal Watch Women's Health newsletter.
The synopsis goes:
        One of the most vexing problems in treating
        postpartum depression is uncertainty about the
        delivery of antidepressants to infants through
        breast milk.  The SSRIs are effective, but there
        are few studies on their use during lactation.
        These authors reviewed the existing literature
        on 18 cases and studied an additional nine
        mother-nursling pairs.
        Mothers has DSM-IV-confirmed depression
        and were receiving 50 to 200 mg/day of
        sertraline.  Infants were full-term, healthy
        fully breastfed, and 4 to 22 weeks old.  Seven
        infants had undetectable (<2ng/ml) sertraline
        levels, and an 8th had a very low level (3ng/ml)
        One infant's serum level was half that of the
        mother's.  Since this finding was entirely
        inconsistent with others, the authors opined
        that it might be due to laboratory error or
        administration of sertraline directly to the infant.
        No problems were identified in any of the infants
        by their mothers or pediatricians.

        Am J Psychiatry 1998 May; 155:690-2


Debbie Codding, RNC
Naval Hospital Guam