Anti-depressant pills during pregnancy?

I was on 20mg (max dose) of Lexapro before, during and after my pregnancy. My son is 3 weeks old and has had no side effects. He's perfectly healthy.

I was on effexor when I found out I was pregnant at 5 weeks and was told to stop taking it, then I was prescribed zoloft instead. The withdrawals for effexor are always absolute hell, but I already felt like crap so it wasn't that much different 😅 I had hyperemesis gravidarum and couldn't even keep down water, so i don't know how much zoloft actually stayed in my system and I gave up after about 2 weeks of puking within 10 minutes of taking it. I was told zoloft was a safer alternative, though, and i was comfortable with taking it while pregnant.

Thanks for responding ladies

I was on generic zoloft until 16 weeks pregnant (nausea was so bad I could not hold down my medications) baby is now 6 weeks with no issues.

I was advised to stop taking lexapro while ttc as a precaution, but this made me unwell so GP then put me on zoloft instead (turns out risks with lexapro and zoloft are actually pretty similar). I didnt get on well with zoloft so switched back to lexapro in the end, all before actually getting pregnant. Took a low dose of lexapro all pregnancy, saw mental health specialist doctor in the maternity ward to ask about it and he said not to worry - it's really low risk and best to prioritise your mental health! They monitor baby for a couple of days after birth just to check they are OK anyway. We're at 10 weeks now and he's all good! 🙂 wishing you the best x

@Alix thanks 🙏

I think everyone is different. I have horrific anxiety and I take clonazepam (class C for pregnancy but my dose was lowered by 2/3 and it is considered the safest benzodiazepine to take during pregnancy with low risk of withdrawal for a newborn) and propranolol (which is no risk). My OB and psychiatrist got together and decided it would be a bigger risk to be off my meds as pregnancy causes anxiety and total withdrawal for me could have a negative impact on my son, but adjusted my meds so he wouldn’t have issues. 25 weeks tomorrow and everything is great!! My advice would be to listen to your doctors and your body and if it’s safe, don’t put your mental health at risk.

@Emily thx!

With my first pregnancy I was on Prozac and ziprasidone for bipolar. This time I’m only on ziprasidone. My son is 3 healthy, smart, and no delays. I would recommend finding a psych that specializes in maternal mental health because that’s what they went to school for.

@Ivy thx!