Research has shown that in 20% of pregnant women suffer from depression of these 1% of these children have a small but important increased risk of heart defects. Although the overall risk is very low and women should speak to doctors before stopping their drugs. It is worth pointing out that if you have taken antidepressants a specialist scan is sometimes offered to check your baby’s heart and that there are other treatments that don’t require the use of drugs.
It is not all doom and gloom if your baby does have a heart defect as some spontaneously resolve without medical intervention. Speaking as a mother who took anti depressants during the first trimester I can assure you that this risk is very small so there is no need to launch into a major panic. As long as the professionals involved in your care are aware that you have/are taking the antidepressants, they will take this into consideration when deciding on the best plan of action.