Analysis of Perinatal Women Attending a Mother and Baby Unit Taking Sodium Valproate or Lithium with a Diagnosis of Bipolar Affective Disorder.

In this study we describe the management of postnatal women with a bipolar disorder diagnosis who were prescribed either lithium or sodium valproate. There was a 38.2% (13 out of 34) relapse rate in patients discharged on lithium, compared to 46.7% (14 out of 30) relapse in patients discharged with valproate. Only 20 women (29.9%) continued to breastfeed at discharge. There were 32 (47.8%) who ceased breastfeeding during their MBU admission and 23 (34.3%) of whom ceased due to initiation of lithium therapy.