toddler withdrawal from Zoloft when weaning?

[medaroge]

My 2.5 year old just weaned (of his own accord, dropped down to 1 per day, then none). I am on zoloft (100mg/day). Ever since he weaned he has been one cranky kid. I don't just mean a "terrible twos" kind of cranky, I mean really really not himself. It has been 2 weeks since he weaned totally and 2 weeks since he is so cranky. We have been doing lots of cuddle time, lots of reading, and he does not even want to nurse anymore even when I offer it. Could he be having withdrawal symptoms from the zoloft? My first inclination is no, because he weaned so gradually, but I dont have another explination for the way he is acting.

Any advice? thoughts?

thanks,
~Melissa

[tanyalynn]

That's not a terribly high dosage, and from what I recall 5 years ago (!) the 50mg dosage is barely or not at all detectable in breastmilk. Don't remember how sensitive the test was, but a) in a toddler that's been tapering down, and b) at that dosage, I wouldn't expect the Zoloft to be the issue.

How's his gut health? Pretty poop (so to speak), weird poop, highly variable poop? Breastmilk has a lot of digestive balancing effects, I'd suspect something along those lines way before the Zoloft.

I'd also consider whether you're taking any vit/min supplements. Vitamins mostly transfer through in breastmilk proportionate to what mom consumes, and a few minerals do, magnesium often seems to. So if you take a mag supp, your LO may have been getting more magnesium before than he is now. I'd look at things like that, or maybe he needs a bit more fatty food? Maybe his diet has net decreased in fat intake (not sure if you use any animal milks, and the calories were replaced like that).

[justKate]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

That's not a terribly high dosage, and from what I recall 5 years ago (!) the 50mg dosage is barely or not at all detectable in breastmilk. Don't remember how sensitive the test was, but a) in a toddler that's been tapering down, and b) at that dosage, I wouldn't expect the Zoloft to be the issue.

How's his gut health? Pretty poop (so to speak), weird poop, highly variable poop? Breastmilk has a lot of digestive balancing effects, I'd suspect something along those lines way before the Zoloft.

I'd also consider whether you're taking any vit/min supplements. Vitamins mostly transfer through in breastmilk proportionate to what mom consumes, and a few minerals do, magnesium often seems to. So if you take a mag supp, your LO may have been getting more magnesium before than he is now. I'd look at things like that, or maybe he needs a bit more fatty food? Maybe his diet has net decreased in fat intake (not sure if you use any animal milks, and the calories were replaced like that).

This sounds like the right answer. BM also has a natural laxative effect, so maybe his gut is feeling yucky.

I would definitely not think withdrawal. From what I understand there is not a lot passed through BM anyway. By analogy to Paxil (both SSRIs), I think Zoloft has a relatively short half-life of like 72 hours, so there would be very little, if any, left in his system after even a week, especially since he tapered down.

I hope you find the answers you're looking for and that your LO feels like his old self again soon.