Weaning for fertility drugs?

[aphel]

Anyone done it? How old was your LO? Was it awful and hard or worth it?

We're starting to think about TTC number 2 in the next year and at the very least will likely need to supplement progesterone during the TWW and throughout the first tri, which will mean weaning DD. If anyone cares to share their experience, I'd love to hear it.

TIA

[Vegan Princess]

Why do you need to wean to take prometrium? I know plenty of nursing mamas who use it. I also know plenty of nursing mamas who've used clomid and even one who did a frozen embryo transfer while nursing - including taking 300mg of prometrium/day after the transfer. I do think one mama pumped for the 5 days while taking the clomid, but otherwise you should be fine. 

I will say that I did end up weaning my daughter at 20 months bc of infertility issues. One of my hormones came back off and could have indicated something that needed to be addressed right away - but we couldn't know for sure unless I weaned. And it turns out I do have the issues we thought I might. I do feel like I rushed her a bit - but on the other hand, I think I was ready to be done and she never even cried about it. We were already down to 2 times/day at that point and I had cut feedings pretty gradually. Yet here I am a year later and still not pregnant - so perhaps I didn't need to be in such a rush. 

Cindy

[gardenbelle]

I weaned my son much earlier than I wanted to because I wanted to get the ball rolling on fertility cycles.  He took almost 3 years to TTC so I didn't want to waste any time thinking that it might take a long time again and because it was not only an FET cycle for me, but a donor cycle for a friend.  I felt extra pressure to start asap.  I weaned him at 8 months and it was no biggy for him because he had been on a nursing strike, but it was SO heartbreaking for me.  I cried for a couple weeks about it and still have a lot of guilt that I didn't nurse him longer.  I will say that it was worth it because I think everything happens for a reason and I wouldn't have my daughter if things didn't play out the way they did (she was conceived 5 months later through a natural cycle after the cycle failed).

If you are really having hesitations about it and your don't have age constrictions that are making you want to start earlier; maybe put it off for a couple months and see how you feel?  Go with your gut though. :)

With my daughter, she is happily nursing at 19 months and even though we are TTC, we'll wait to do any FETs until she is weaned completely.  Even though some of the hormones are fine to take during breastfeeding, I'm a little leery.  I feel like why risk it when there is such little research on it? 

One of my friends weaned her 30 month old twins so that she could do an FET cycle.  It didn't work out for her, but she says now that it was the kick in the pants she needed to finally night wean.  She says it was hard, but she was ready.

[gozal]

Yes, and I wish I had done it sooner. Not because I didn't love nursing him - we both did, so much - but because I lost so much time to that decision. If I ever get pg again, I know for sure that I will have to wean much sooner than I'd like - I have a prolactin-producing pituitary tumor, so there is no way I can ever get pg if I am bf. But I'm planning on it already, because I'd rather nurse one baby for 6-12 months and have another, than nurse that baby for three years and risk never having another one. So, I don't think there is anything wrong with weaning in order to complete your family. 

[lifeguard]

I didn't. I did 6 clomid cycles while bfing ds & actually conceived on an "off" cycle (we had just done 3 cycles back to back & think that was why I actually o'd). It took almost a year to conceive dd (it took 6 to conceive ds) so I'm glad I didn't wean him. He was 18 months when we started clomid though so the bfing was fairly minimal at that point.

[fullofhope08]

my ds is almost 19 months and I am weaning him slowly so we can do an FET in february, hopefully. We had originally planned on wanting to cycle this past summer but put things on hold when i learned they would expect me to wean before we could cycle. For me, I didn't have the heart to wean him at 12-14 months. So I suggested to my dh that we wait until he's at least 18 months. I wanted to give him that much. We nightweaned at 18 months. I plan on cutting his bedtime feed in the next week or so, then his morning feed in January. I'm hoping he can cope with this pace (he's a pretty happy little guy and I feel he can handle it at this point, despite his love of mama's milk!) so he'll have nursed for 20 months. I guess for me, i can live with that. I knew I had to not feel guilty about the length of his nursing on the off chance our cycling doesn't work and I have to cope with the grief of that and the lost bf'ing. it's still not easy though! I think we all have a feeling about what we can live with, and it will be different for everyone. I feel for you. It's a crappy part of cycling for sure.

good luck, renee

[aphel]

Thanks for the kind responses everyone. You guys have given me lots to think about. TTC is still a good 7-8 months away due to school schedules, so we've got some time to figure everything out.

Veganprincess, I didn't know you could do prometrium and nurse. Will have to discuss with my RE.

Lifeguard, I totally remember you from the nursing mamas TTC thread. I lurked over there for a while. So glad you are pregnant and doing well!

Fullofhope08, I so know what you mean about weaning with the possibility of not being able to conceive again. That's, I think, my biggest fear. Although by the time we start TTC, DD will be 2, and that is a good long time.

[fullofhope08]

Fullofhope08, I so know what you mean about weaning with the possibility of not being able to conceive again. That's, I think, my biggest fear. Although by the time we start TTC, DD will be 2, and that is a good long time.

 Aphel,

I can totally relate. I think for all of us, that's what we need to make peace with so we can deal with whatever happens with TTC. It's great that you feel you have some time to still give to your DD...enjoy these months ahead! and I hope when your DD is 2, you'll feel ready to transition her to weaning and both feel ok with this. I can relate to needing to wrap your head around all this at this point. It took me a long while too to think this through and it helped to have a bit of a timeline for myself.

[Flower of Bliss]

I did multiple clomid rounds TTC #2 while nursing #1.  She was 15 months the first attempt.  I didn't respond, we took a few months off and tried again, slowly over the course of a year.  I think we went through 4 cycles total.  She self weaned at 27 months during a clomid cycle (she'd naturally cut back to more like every other day nursing and I think adding the clomid in, I lost my milk suppy, and then she weaned pretty quickly), and DD2 was conceived on cycle day 30 of that same cycle (so she was a "failed clomid cycle").  I'm very glad I didn't wean her earlier to conceive.  I love the girls 3 year age gap. 

I'm currently nursing DD2, now 28 months, at least 1-2 times a day, often more.  I'm in the middle of my first round of clomid TTC #3.  This time around I wanted to wait until my little one was older before starting the stress of TTC.  I responded to the clomid well, and will do my trigger shot today.  I start progesterone Friday.  My RE is aware that I'm nursing, and he was the first go round too.  He said the only issue with nursing is that it leaves you less likely to conceive.  I was ok with that.  It can also affect your milk supply, but so can pregnancy, so that was obviously a risk I was ok with. 

[lifeguard]

That's great to hear flower of bliss - good luck with #3. We are in a very similar boat. Dd is just 2.5 months right now so we're not there yet but I know I will do the same for 3 as I did for 2.

[aphel]

Good luck with the trigger Flower of Bliss!

[olive&pimiento]

I weaned my dd at 17 months so that I could start ttc #2.  We conceived him on the 1st try with IUI and special sperm wash.  I just felt like if we were going to go through all the hassle of infertility treatment, I wanted to give it my best shot.  I felt like my hormonal levels would be closer to optimal if I wasn't nursing. 

[hope4light]

I just wanted to be curious and see how this turned out for those that were in the process?  I am in the process of weaning DD at almost 19 months.  I still struggle with the decision to wean, but we don't want to hurt our chances since we need to do IVF.  We don't want to wait any longer before we start a cycle as we do not have the best luck.  I feel OK with it for the most part, but do still struggle with the whole question of 'what if I wean and then it doesn't work.'

Baby dust to all!

[Flower of Bliss]

I'm 8 weeks pregnant with #3.  The pregnancy is going well.  I'm doing weekly appointments with my RE, and everything looks perfect.  Friday we saw a little baby with a heartbeat of 174, little arm buds, and the umbilical cord pumping blood   DD2 is now 30 months, and still nurses to bed every night, and often down for naps too.  Due to normal pregnancy nursing aversions, I'm limiting to duration of nursing sessions, and have pretty much cut out other nursing.  I'm very glad I didn't try to wean her quickly before we did our first cycle.  I am hoping she'll wean over the course of the pregnancy.

[hope4light]

Congrats Flower of Bliss!!

[fullofhope08]

congrats Flower of Bliss!!! this is great news!

My DS is now weaned. We stuck to our schedule - nightweaned him at 18 months, weaned him of his bedtime nurse at 19 months, and weaned him of his morning nuse at 20 months. I used the Dr Jay Gordon approach of nightweaning for each step - changed things gradually over the course of a week. Yes, there were a few tears, but my DS has coped really well and really, the tears lasted only a matter of minutes when I night weaned him, and only seconds this last time. It seems wierd to no longer be nursing him, but we're both ok and there are still plenty of hugs and kisses, which seems to satisfy him now. I was ready to try for more children months ago, aside from having to wean him. I'm glad I gave him these 20 months of nursing and balanced his needs with our want of more children. I feela t this point that I won't have any regrets either way... We are now preparing for a FET, transfer date is February 29th!

Good luck to you all. It's not easy to wean your little one. For us, a slow approach was best as it let us both adjust.

Renee