Women who take certain antidepressants during their last trimester of pregnancy may have newborns who suffer from neonatal behavior syndrome -- a condition characterized by difficulty feeding and sleeping, irritability, prolonged crying, tremors, and seizures in the weeks after birth -- says a literature review published in the May 18 Journal of the American Medical Association.
The research found babies of women who took selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors during that time were three times more likely to have these symptoms than were babies of women who did not take this type of medication. The symptoms generally lasted no more than two weeks, leading the researchers to theorize the infants may have been withdrawing from the medication. Treatment, the researchers said, consists of supportive care in special-care nurseries.
The researchers stressed that their findings don't mean pregnant women with depression should stop taking their medication. "Failure to keep women well during pregnancy has very significant consequences," said Sandy Zeskind, research professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Previous research has shown that children whose mothers were depressed during pregnancy are at risk for premature birth and low birthweight.
