So I have been reading through this thread for a few weeks. I decided to join so I could add my input. After reading through a bunch of these seeing what people used and what was safe during pregnancy and breastfeeding, I found some are considered safe and some aren't, through people's testimonies and through research of my own. I started the Inositol and started out small and worked my way up to 6g. I noticed a bunch of hair loss in me and my baby girl. She is almost 4 months old. It could be coincidence or post-partum hormones could be playing their part. Never had hair loss after my son, but every pregnancy situation is different. I started to notice rapid roller coaster emotions and inability to concentrate. L-Tyrosine helped with alertness and when stopped I couldn't concentrate again. I went to my local health foods store and talked to one of their experts on natural supplements. They were extremely knowledgable and helpful, as usual and actually made me a copy out of their go-to encyclopedia on what is best for women to take while breastfeeding or pregnant. The first thing that came up on the list that is supposedly the closest thing to a pharmaceutical is SAM-e (S-Adenosylmethionine). It's good for depression, anxiety and bipolar. The next thing on the list was natural progesterone, which I didn't go into further. The next thing on the next thing was a really good Omega 3 supplement, which I had also read about elsewhere. I got their ultimate omega 3 supplement, lemon flavor. It's their purest and best fish oil. A little pricey, but was on sale (by the way, puritan.com is the best place to find inexpensive supplements, like buy 2 get 3 free Inositol powder and so on). The next thing on the list was GABA. She told me to try the SAM-e before taking the GABA, but it was fine to take with the inositol. Magnesium is another one and supposedly it's hard to overdose on. Vitamin B you can overdose on and a lot of this stuff is a form of vitamin B, like Inositol. As well as vitamin B, amino acids seem to play a key role. Another thing I found very interesting is people's diets playing a role in all of this. Sugar being a big one. I have been addicted to sugar for a while. It's gotten worse with age and pregnancies. There are supplements out there that help curb sugar addictions. I can't remember the name of them, but it's easily google-able. I've seen the book The Mood Cure mentioned quite a few times throughout this blog and it looks very interesting and insightful. I may have to get it and read it. It seems that the same concoction doesn't work for everyone. Especially if someone has an undiagnosed form of bipolar. It's kind of a trial and error with different supplements. Oh, I forgot to mention, I had read that the 5 htp is not safe when pregnant or breast feeding and either is tryptophan, even though it seems some people on here have taken it while BF or preggo and haven't had any problems. The L-tyrosine and Inositol say you should stay cautious if taking while BFing, but people seem to be taking those and are fine and so are their babies. Not to mention the Inositol is also used to help people who are having trouble ovulating and many people have claimed to get pregnant while on it (it's crazy because inositol actually has many many uses for a wide range of things). Inositol is also used in premies in the hospital, I believe it was to help them feed better. Don't have the article right in front of me at the moment. But if it's been safely used in premies, then I think it should be safe for breastfeeding. The L-tyrosine doesn't say it has any known effects on children or babies. The only thing that could possibly make me nervous in the case of pregnancy or nursing with any of these is serious long term use. I had read somewhere along the line about liver issues with long term use and I want to say that was the L-tyrosine, but I can't recall exactly. Look up each supplement on WebMD before taking, weather preggo, nursing or not. Anyway, I hope this helps some pregnant and nursing moms. Sorry to blabb everyone's head off.
