Breastfeeding and Anti-Epileptic Medications
Because breastfeeding has many psychological and medical benefits for both the mother and her child, many women would like to breastfeed. However, all medications taken by the mother are secreted into the breast milk. While various studies have addressed the short-term safety of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in nursing infants, none have systematically assessed the long-term effects of exposure to these drugs on cognitive development.
In the New York Times: Understanding Maternal Mental Illness
This week in the New York Times, there is a two-part story on maternal mental illness. Highlighting the experience of two women who became ill during the postpartum period, the articles focus on the range of disorders which can emerge during the postpartum period -- not only depression, but bipolar disorder, anxiety, OCD, and psychosis.
Antidepressants and Weight Gain: Which Ones are the Worst Offenders?
Many women are understandably concerned about the risk of weight gain associated with antidepressants. It is difficult to advise them as to which antidepressants are less or more likely to cause weight gain, as there are no head-to-head comparisons. In a recent electronic health record study including data from 22,610 individuals, 19,244 of which were antidepressant-treated patients, the researchers observed statistically significant differences in trajectory of weight gain over a 12-month [...]
SSRIs and Chiari Malformations
A recent study from researchers at the University of North Carolina reports that the children of depressed mothers treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during pregnancy were more likely to develop Chiari type 1 malformations than were the children of mothers with no history of depression.
Maternal Depression Persists Beyond the Postpartum Period
Many studies have assessed the risk of depression in the mothers of infants, but fewer studies have focused on the risk of depression in the mothers of older children. A recent study published in BJOG suggests that mothers are not only at risk for depression during the first year after childbirth but are at high risk even at four years postpartum. In this study, women were recruited during pregnancy from six [...]
Preliminary Study: Exercise in Pregnancy Appears to Lessen Depressive Symptoms
A recent study suggests that physical exercise during pregnancy may reduce depressive symptoms. This study from Spain included 184 healthy pregnant women (31.37 ± 3.62 years). Women randomized to the exercise group (EG) participated in a supervised exercise program consisting of three, 55- to 60-min sessions per week throughout pregnancy. A total of 167 pregnant women were analyzed; 90 in the exercise group and 77 in the control group. Significant differences were found between the two groups at the end of the study in terms of level of depressive symptoms as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D): 7.67 ± 6.30 in the exercise group vs. 11.34 ± 9.74 in the control group (p = .005). The percentage of women who were depressed was also lower in the exercise group (12.2%) as compared to the control group (24.7%).