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I am currently on Zoloft and see that it is safe for breastfeeding. I needed something else for my bad postpartum depression since I'm on the max Zoloft dose, and my doctor is adding Abilify 1mg to augment the zoloft. I tried low dose seroquel and it knocks me out, risperdal had bad tremor side effects, so she suggested abilify instead. I have not started the abilify yet. I am breastfeeding and really wish to continue because I feel that it has been the only thing going really well. My daughter is 3.5 months old and healthy. Is abilify safe for me to take?
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Hi, thanks for your post.
There are not many direct studies on how Abilify behaves in breastmilk. What we do have suggests that only around 1-5% of the mother's dose makes it to a full-time breastfeeding baby. We have had some anecdotal reports of babies being overly sleepy due to incidental exposure to the mother's Abilify via breastfeeding. Whether that is a benign side effect or if it causes long-term developmental problems is not known. We give Abilify an L3 rating (out of 5) ("Probably compatible"), mostly because of the lack of information.
Please call us at the InfantRisk Center if this has not completely answered your question. (806)352-2519
-James Abbey, MD -
What about seroquel in comparison to abilify? What is the lactation category and risk for baby?Comment
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Seroquel is better studied and we rate it an L2. I want to emphasize that we did that only because there is better evidence of Seroquel's safety in breastfeeding. Abilify is probably as safe, we just can't be sure.Comment
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What about latuda? Is there any evidence of its safety for breatfeeding?Comment
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Latuda is even less well studied than Abilify, although the same theoretical generalizations apply. In this class of drugs, your medication choice will probably have more to do with how well it treats your depression. There is no one best choice in terms of breastfeeding safety.Comment
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