Is BuSpar safe during pregnancy?

What does the evidence say about BuSpar during pregnancy?

1. Whether buspirone can increase the chance of birth defects is not known, though one pregnancy registry identified 72 infants exposed to buspirone and found no birth defects among them. 1
2. Studies have not been done on whether buspirone raises the chance of miscarriage, preterm delivery, or low birth weight, so the honest answer on those outcomes is that nobody knows yet. 1
3. Generalized anxiety disorder affects about 9 to 11 out of every 100 pregnant people, and stopping a medication that is working can let symptoms restart or get worse. 2
4. Anxiety disorders are the most common type of mental health condition, affecting nearly 1 in 5 adults including those who are pregnant or postpartum, and any anxiety medication you take belongs on your ob-gyn's list. 3
5. About a third of US adolescents and adults experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives, which is part of why so many people arrive at pregnancy already on medication. 4

Is BuSpar safe in each trimester?

• First trimester. Nobody can give you a first-trimester risk number for buspirone, because the human studies do not exist. One pregnancy registry followed 72 infants exposed to buspirone and reported no birth defects. That is encouraging, and it is also far too small a group to settle the question either way.
• Second trimester. There is no published research on whether buspirone affects preterm delivery or birth weight. If your anxiety is steady on it, that stability has real value, and your clinicians can weigh it against a gap in the evidence rather than against a known risk. Those are two very different things.
• Third trimester. One infant exposed to buspirone along with other substances was reported with slow growth, tremors, low muscle tone, low blood sugar, and feeding trouble, though the other exposures make the cause impossible to pin down. Ask your provider what to watch for after delivery and who should be told.