Please click here to log in with you RCPsych web account details; you will be redirected back to CPD Online.If you have forgotten your College web account details, you will be able to reset them here.
Please click here to log in if your institution has a subscription to CPD Online with Athens access.
Please click here to log in if you are subscribed through Medicom Netherlands.
If you having troubles signing in with the options above, please try this alternative login route.
by Dr Charles Musters and Dr Anthony Soares
Published: August 2012
Psychiatrists often need to prescribe medication to breastfeeding women. This is because mental illness is common in pregnancy and the postnatal period: around 13% of women develop postnatal depression, and 0.1% develop puerperal psychosis. Medication can be an important part of an overall treatment plan.
This may include antidepressants for patients with severe depressive illness, and antipsychotics used to treat or reduce the risk of puerperal psychosis. Psychological therapies also play an important role in the treatment of perinatal mental illness, but these are beyond the scope of this module.
Although the majority of medications are unlicensed in breastfeeding, many women need medication and wish to breastfeed. This module will give you the knowledge required to prescribe with confidence.
Start the module
Psychotropic medication and the heart: Part 1 and Part 2 by Dr Sridevi Sira Mahalingappa et al
Psychiatric aspects of perinatal loss by Dr William Badenhorst
Or why not try another Quickbite module?:
Monitoring and managing the renal adverse effects of lithium by Dr Sumeet Gupta and Dr Udayan Khastgir
Personal development plans: how to make them work by Dr Anne Worrall-Davies
About Quickbite modules
Related Advances articles
Download take-home notes to print and annotate