There’s an interesting article on this topic by Hans Jensen et al, in the February 21, 2013 issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry. You can see an abstract here.
The authors conducted a register study on all pregnant women in Denmark from 1996 to 2006, linking data from the Medical Birth Register, the Psychiatric Central Register, and the National Prescription Database.
They found that the
“… use of SSRIs during pregnancy increases the risk of a low Apgar score independently of maternal depression.”
APGAR scores were assessed five minutes after birth.
The APGAR score (named for Dr. Virginia Apgar) is a simple and reliable method to assess the health of a newborn baby. It involves an assessment of appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration.
One more reason for not using SSRI’s.