Can you take celexa while pregnant

Study design: Pregnant women who contacted the Motherisk Program, a Teratogen Information Center in Toronto, Ontario, with regard to the safety of citalopram in pregnancy were enrolled in the study. The exposed women were matched to a disease-matched group of women and a nonteratogenic group.

A structured telephone follow-up interview was conducted following the expected date of confinement. Women who take antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors SSRIs , during pregnancy may worry about whether the medications can cause birth defects.

There is good news on this front. Osborne says that there is generally no need to taper off medications during pregnancy. In fact, untreated mental illness itself poses risks to a developing fetus.

A woman who is depressed is less likely to get good prenatal care and more likely to engage in unhealthy or dangerous behaviors, like smoking and substance abuse. Osborne also says mental illness has direct effects on newborn babies.

About 30 percent of babies whose mothers take SSRIs will experience neonatal adaptation syndrome, which can cause increased jitteriness, irritability and respiratory distress difficulty breathing , among other symptoms. The connection between antidepressant use during pregnancy and the risk of autism in offspring remains unclear. But most studies have shown that the risk is very small and other studies have shown no risk at all.

Further research is needed. A new study also suggests a link between use of antidepressants during pregnancy, specifically venlafaxine and amitriptyline, and an increased risk of gestational diabetes.

More research is needed. The decision to continue or change your antidepressant medication will be based on the stability of your mood disorder. Talk to your health care provider. Concerns about potential risks must be weighed against the possibility that a drug substitution could fail and cause a depression relapse. If you have depression and are pregnant or thinking about getting pregnant, consult your health care provider.

Deciding how to treat depression during pregnancy isn't easy. The risks and benefits of taking medication during pregnancy must be weighed carefully.

Work with your health care provider to make an informed choice that gives you — and your baby — the best chance for long-term health. There is a problem with information submitted for this request.

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In most cases, these symptoms are mild and go away within weeks with no treatment or with only supportive care. One small study followed eleven babies exposed to citalopram during pregnancy.

At one year of age there was no difference in their development compared to children who were not exposed to citalopram. Most studies also find that SSRIs do not appear to increase the chance of autism spectrum disorder ASD after considering the effects of maternal depression or other factors.

There have been a few cases of sleepiness and weight loss, but in most studies no harmful effects were seen in breastfed babies. Some studies also showed no difference in the intellectual development of babies exposed to citalopram or escitalopram during breastfeeding.

The risk to the breastfed infant appears to be small, while the benefits of breastfeeding are well known. Be sure to talk to your healthcare provider about all your breastfeeding questions. In general, exposures that fathers or sperm donors have are unlikely to increase the risks to a pregnancy.