Prozac - did it affect baby?

[Surfacing]

Just wondering if anyone on Prozac while pregnant needed their newborn to be monitored for withdrawal after. What was your experience? TIA.

[Silvercrest79]

I took it while pregnant with DD 2 and she was perfectly fine when she was born.

[Surfacing]

What was your dosage? When did you start?

[Silvercrest79]

I don't remember the dosage but I took it from the 4th month on. May have been earlier but I don't remember. This was 2003 and I can't remember that long ago. :

[thebarkingbird]

my experience for what it's worth was a very very bad one. still it's better than someone being seriously suicidal. i think i'm a bit angry because i was in a very vulnerable state and coerced into taking something w/o full informed concent so please take that into consideration.

i took it for the last 6 weeks or so of my pregnancy which doesn't make much sense as there is VERY little risk in BF but some in preg and it takes more than 6 weeks to take full effect so why not wait it out and moniter closely PP?! that would have been my call but i wasn't very well informed and was at the time not in a place w/ internet and didn't own my own car. i suppose i could have taken a bus to the library 8 mos preg. but i've stopped beating myself up over just not knowing.

when my son was born the hospital staff knew i was on meds but didn't know how to identify the withdrawal symptoms. he had a bit of trouble breathing at first and then after they helped him out he started to withdraw from the meds and the shakes etc began. first we were told he was very sick and then they started harassing me about street drugs until i was in tears repeating that i only took paxal. this was a crappy public hospital though and i'm sure much of this part could be avoided if you were delivering w/ people who knew what to look for and knew what to do. i was not allowed to see him for several hours except through glass and was not allowed to give pumped BM or to feed him myself until a WONDERFUL nurse showed up and let me sneak into the corner. she helped me keep my supply up enough to at least help w/ feeding soon as i was officially not being watched like a hawk. they were afraid that they would not be able to isolate causes for things etc if i was on the meds and when i asked if i could just stop taking them or taper off and feed him to ween him off the chemicals they would not allow me to drop off BM to feed him.

DS was on a feeding tube for a while and an O@ mask for a few days until he just needed the O2 tubes and finally nothing. he stayed in NICU for 9 days. during that time i was able to be with him often and he began to steadily improve as the shakes stopped though there were some scary moments when his 02 levels dropped like mad and he had to be given extra on top of the mask. it was from the shakes caused by withdrawal screwing w/ his tiny lungs.

he came home at 9 days and has had no serious problems since then but ear infections.

the withdrawals were no joke. they caused real health problems and it was so painful to see his little body jerk around and him never able to be comfortable.

i have been off meds for 2 years now and declined them w/ this preg even though mental health professionals from the state (that's the bad thing about using public health care) want to "keep up with me" and at every visit have pressured me to take them "just in case" i believe that i would take them again though if i were suicidal or so depressed i truly could not care for a baby. i will never take them again while pregnant unless i meet those two criteria. otherwise i'd wait until after the babe was birthed and see from there.

that's just me. we had a bad experience. yours may be different. statistically the odds are very much on your side. just IME "monitoring a baby for withdrawal symptoms" isn't as simple or painless as it sounds.

good luck to you! i know first hand what a hard decision it is and i hate to be the one telling scary stories. that's just my experience. please take it in the spirit of helpfulness and please don't feel like i'm trying to frighten you off something.

[Surfacing]

barkingbird - what a story! I'm glad your little guy was okay after all. Was your dose of Paxil high? I wonder what the half-life is...how long it stays in the body before it breaks down and is excreted.

I called the Motherisk line (assoc. with Sick Kids Hospital) where they have current research re: Prozac and affect on babes. When I told them I was prescribed 2 mg of it to start, and will be going up to 10 mg they told me that is a very low dose and shouldn't affect the baby. Still, I will speak to my midwife about monitoring the baby and whether I should 'risk out' of midwifery care, and be seen by an OB and pediatrician instead. Sigh - I hope not. Just trying to juggle so many things here.

Thanks for sharing your story. Sorry it was so hard!

[Silvercrest79]

10mg rings a bell I am pretty sure that is what I took.

[lynnie2183]

I also am on Prozac and am pregnant and have been on it the whole time. I asked my son's pediatrician what he thought and what he sees in newborns and he was very reassuring. He has no personal interest in whether or not I am on meds and would have been honest with me if he had concerns. He told me what the risks are for withdrawl and pulmonary hypertension, and I asked him if he had actually ever seen any babies with those symptoms and he had not. He is a Navy doctor and we have a lot of babies in the Navy ;-)

My midwives have no problem with me being on this medicine. Now, I'm not nonchalant about it, but it is what I need to get by and the stress hormones that the baby would be exposed to if I were not on it could be very dangerous to him and me. Its a tough choice, and I've been in your shoes, but I'm at peace with it now.

[Surfacing]

Hi Lynnie2183 - just wondering what dosage you're taking. Yes, I've spoken with my midwives and psychiatrist too who say, like your doctor, that it seems to be okay for most babes. There are some drugs where they see that babies are born breathing rapidly for awhile (up to a month) but it's not Prozac. It seems to be making a big difference for me too and I'm grateful if this works out. I understanding about having to make a very tough decision. But now that I see how much better I feel on it, I feel sad that I have suffered so long without it, you know? For so many years I just tried to handle things myself. Take care!