The Endocrine SocietyPregnant women are more than often asked to be careful about their doings. According to a new study, regular types of antidepressant drugs consumed by women may undergo overdue lactation subsequent to birth and could require extra support to attain their breastfeeding objectives.

Breastfeeding is said to be advantageous to both babies as well as mothers in several ways since breast milk is simple in digesting and encompasses antibodies that can defend toddlers from bacterial and viral infections. The World Health Organization suggests that infants ought to be entirely breastfed for the primary six months of life. This new study appears to exhibit that specific common antidepressant drugs could be associated with an ordinary trouble experienced by new mothers called delayed secretory activation, described as a holdup in the commencement of complete milk secretion.

Nelson Horseman, PhD, of the University of Cincinnati and co-author of the study, commented, “The breasts are serotonin-regulated glands, meaning the breasts’ ability to secrete milk at the right time is closely related to the body’s production and regulation of the hormone serotonin. Common antidepressant drugs like fluoxetine, sertraline and paroxetine are known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) drugs and while they can affect mood, emotion and sleep they may also impact serotonin regulation in the breast, placing new mothers at greater risk of a delay in the establishment of a full milk supply.”

Horseman remarked, “SSRI drugs are very helpful medications for many moms, so understanding and ameliorating difficulties moms experience can help them achieve their goals for breastfeeding their babies. More human research is needed before we can make specific recommendations regarding SSRI use during breastfeeding.”

In this study, experts supposedly evaluated the consequences of SSRI drugs on lactation by means of laboratory studies of human and animal cell lines and hereditarily altered mice. In addition, an observational study appears to assess the influence of SSRI drugs on the inception of milk production in postpartum women. The study included about 431 postpartum women; median beginning of lactation was said to be around 85.8 hours postpartum for the SSRI-treated mothers as compared to roughly 69.1 hours for mothers not treated with SSRI drugs. The study authors generally describe postponed secretory activation as taking place later than 72 hours postpartum.

The study will be published in the February 2010 issue of The Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).