check the abilify website

Hi,

Fundamentally the information probably isn't out there yet - Abilify is a relatively new drug (perhaps 5 years old - since launch) - and there have not (to my knowledge) been any formal studies of this issue with Abilify - so nobody can know with any confidence.

If someone did have a comment (I recommend you post the same question in the main board, and also the "diagnosed" board, and perhaps some other people have some comments) - its still just one person's experience - and likely a limited experience (if there is any impact on the baby - its likely to be subtle - and may not be understood for many years after birth).

You would best talk with the doctors - as they should be a little more up on the research. The issue is that there may be some risks with taking any medication during pregnancy - but there are also known risks of being psychotic during pregnancy - psychosis causes a great deal of stress for the person - and stress is well known to be very bad for pregnant women and their babies - so the medication may be the lesser of two risks.

See our section on schizophrenia prevention , and also on stress and pregnancy for more info:

http://www.schizophrenia.com/prev4.htm#stresspreg

http://www.schizophrenia.com/prev1.htm

I hope women who are pregnant and taking Abilify will read this posting.

I am the mother of a daughter who has schizophrenia and who took Abilify while she was pregnant with her daughter who is now a year old. While she was pregnant I did some research to find out if there were studies about the effects of the drug on the fetus, etc.

I could not find any research, and my daughter's OBGYN and Psychiatrist told her they did not know of any because of it being such a new drug.

Here is what I've noticed about her baby who is now almost a year old........The baby is obviously slow in development, and appears to have slight mental retardation. The baby rarely smiles, does not react to stimuli, has some characteristics of what appears to be autism - flaps fingers, but its so early to know if the baby is delayed, autistic, or simply slow in development. The baby does not reach, babble,
put things in her mouth. She now sits up (in the last month) and crawls.

The baby was born with a hematoma on her head which might have something to do with her slow development. My daughter thinks she is normal, and will not get second opinions. The pediatrician
is concerned about her low weight gain, but thinks she is developing "normally".......

I wonder if taking Abilify has caused this slow development and possible mental retardation.

Only time will tell, but I wanted to alert women taking this medication

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because of no studies available, to what I've seen with my granddaughter.

drugs.com very helpful.....................................................................