I have a personal question, not for a client, I would like it if an LC with herbal experience can pm me

I just figured this was a better place to ask than anywhere else with all of you lovely dual certified and LC ladies hanging around

Thanks

hmmm i thought for sure there would be someone that could help LOL....alright then, I am thinking of taking St. John's Wart and need to know if I can while I am nursing my 5 month old?....My Dr. wants me to take antidepressants and I would like to know if taking the herb would be safer than taking conventional antidepressants?

Are you using oral contraception or other hormonal contraception at all? Do you take any other rx or OTC meds? St Johns Wart is known to not play well with other medication.

As a breastfeeding counselor I can't answer your question about wheither its ok or not to take it. But I can tell you that LactMed has it listed in their iPhone app. You can google LactMed and look it up on their website for yourself though.

no i have my tubes tied, ok i will check out lactmed thanks!

You can also call infantrisk.com - they are a department of Texas Tech headed by Hale and can answer any question you might have about meds/supplements and breastfeeding.

from an herbalist perspective, i think st johns wort is ok for supporting the nervous system of nursing mothers (although one small study showed that babies get more colic from moms on SJW) but i would recommend motherwort over SJW any day and especially for new mothers. check out this great profile on motherworthere and another article by the same woman on herbs for anxiety and nervous system support in general. whole herbs are going to be generally much safer than synthetic pharmaceuticals for breastfeeding - safefetus.com is a great site to check and compare the safety of various medications for pregnancy and nursing btw. whatever herbs you choose, don't take the herb in capsule form as the encapsulated herbs are usually of low quality, low potency, may have pesticides and are hard to digest. instead, take herbs like motherwort or st johns wort as tinctures and herbs like oatstraw, clover and nettle as a deep tea infusion.

for what its worth, i recently made a different formula for my own nervous system support with borage, motherwort, st johns wort & lemon balm and me and my seasonal depression are loving it right now.