Breastfeeding and Psychiatric Medications

When discussing the use of antidepressant medications by breastfeeding women, It is somewhat misleading to say that certain medications are “safer” than others. All medications taken by the mother are secreted into the breast milk. The amount of drug to which the infant is exposed depends on many factors, including the medication dosage, as well as the infant’s age and feeding schedule. To date, we have not found that certain medications are found at lower levels in the breast milk and may therefore pose less of a risk to the nursing infant. Nor have we found that any antidepressant medication has been associated with serious adverse events in the baby.