Study: Antidepressant Use During Breastfeeding Does Not Affect Infant Brain Development
A long-term study has found that mothers taking SSRIs while breastfeeding do not negatively impact their children’s cognitive development, despite prenatal and postnatal exposure.
Addressing long-standing concerns among new mothers, a comprehensive study spanning nearly twenty years has revealed reassuring results: taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) during breastfeeding does not harm a child’s brain development or cognitive abilities.
Researchers followed pairs of mothers and children who were all exposed to antidepressants during pregnancy. After birth, the children were divided into three groups based on exposure: those who were breastfed and continued to receive SSRIs through breast milk, those who were breastfed but whose exposure ended at birth, and those who were not breastfed at all.
When the children reached ages four and five, standardized IQ tests showed minimal differences between the groups. The average IQ score for children exposed through breastfeeding was 106, compared to 109 for those who were not exposed postnatally—differences considered scientifically insignificant.
Verbal and performance IQ assessments also showed no decline linked to SSRI exposure through breast milk, indicating that breastfeeding while continuing treatment poses no risk to cognitive development.
Researchers believe these findings, supported by similar studies, can help reassure mothers and encourage them to continue necessary antidepressant treatment after childbirth. Maintaining the mother’s mental health, they note, is essential for the child’s well-being and healthy development.
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