Progestin BC Pill & Breastfeeding

[Dixielane]

Hi ladies,

I am wondering if anyone here can tell me exactly how safe a progestin only Birth control pill is while breastfeeding?

I guess I have gotten more and more "crunchy" in regards to BFing, I eat healthy and avoid meds, so BC is a concern because I don't know much about it and how it might effect us.

Does it decrease your supply? I've heard sometimes it can, but if it does, can you regain your normal supply back after stopping?

Any info would be great. My doc just prescribed me Micronor ( i think thats the name of it)

FTR, I would probably be comfortable using withdrawal only since I am not big on hormones, but I got my real period back at 8 weeks PP so that counts me out on using breastfeeding as BC aid.

[larzanna]

I feel like i have a very good Dr, and when i asked her about it she said basically that yes, it sometimes can reduce supply, but she said that women who are not currently having any problems usually do not. She said that the ones that seem to have problems while on the pill with supply, are the ones that are having supply problems/a tough time anyway.
She also said that if it seemed like i had supply issues after starting it, that i could just stop and those issues would go away.

FWIW i did take them for a few months while BF. Had no supply issues, but i had even worse lack of libido while on them. BF for me kills it regardless, its just even worse (if thats possible) while on them so i stopped.

[CBall]

I started the mini pill when my dd was 6 months. My midwife told me that the mini pill reducing milk supply was a myth. I had always had a lot of milk so I didn't really worry about it. Well it ended up reducing my supply drastically, to the point where she lost 6 ounces in a month. It took 3 visits to a lactation consultant and a ton of herbs to get any supply back at all. She is 10 months now and we are still breastfeeding. But despite taking tons of herbs and doing everything I can think of, she has to have about 4 oz of formula a day. At first this about broke my heart, but there was a point during this experience where I thought that I wouldn't be able to breastfeed her anymore at all, so I'm now grateful for what I have been allowed to keep. I don't mean to scare you, for all I know I'm the exception rather than the rule. But this really scared me, especially how caviler my midwife was about the whole thing. I'm never taking hormonal birth control again.

[Dixielane]

No, this is why I asked, to know things like that. Breastfeeding is a VERY important issue for me. I'd be heartbroken if I lost my supply, or even if it got cut in half...

[youngspiritmom]

It's my understanding that the pills that have both estrogen and progestin decrease milk supply, but the progestin-only pills dont decrease supply, because they are a weaker pill (hence having to take them at the same time every day for them to be effective).

However, the name of the game with pills is that every woman's body responds differently.