IUI and breastfeeding??

5276 Views 3 Replies 3 Participants Last post by kerrybennysmama, Apr 23, 2009

kerrybennysmama

Discussion Starter · Apr 23, 2009

Hello,
I am new to this board. I had secondary infertility after my first and three losses, with the last occurring early this month. I have a 5 year old and a 16 month old, wth the youngest being conceived by IUI. I want to have another and do another IUI but the RE said I would need to stop breastfeeding. He said the reasons were that it makes it harder to get pregnant ie Lowering progesterone in early pregnancy and that Clomid might not be such a great thing to take while nursing. I just dont think my 16 month old is ready to quit nursing yet. Has anyone done fertility treamtments while nursing? He was very vauge about why he didnt want me to breastfeed giving no specific data as to why it was contraindicated.

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Julia'sMom

· #2 · Apr 23, 2009

Clomid is technically safe for you to take while breastfeeding, however, it may seriously decrease your supply.

As for conceiving while breastfeeding...if you're prolactin level is too high, that may interfere with ovulation, and then when ovulation starts to occur, it may cause the lining you develop to be too thin to support the pregnancy. I think it may also interfere with progesterone. Thus, you can have prolactin checked, but since there is no precise perfect number, doctors want you to wean to give you the best chances of conceiving. Probably partly for their success rates, but also because it's somewhat pointless to go to all that effort when the body isn't prepared. It's such a tough place to be.

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stephanie95

· #3 · Apr 23, 2009

I was in the same situation. My RE said it was up to me, but breastfeeding cause subtle changes in the "hormonal nuances" that aren't easily detected by blood tests etc. So they can't test to see if you are likely to conceive. My DD refused all other forms of milk so breastfeeding was critical. Like the PP said Clomid can severely affect supply. I was concerned because my DD was 12 months and no where near weaning. My RE was OK if I wanted to skip the clomid. Also like PP said, it's a matter of odds. You reduce the odds of success. He said he would do IUI as long as I understood that it might not be successful as quickly. I ended up waiting a year mostly because we couldn't get our act together and then I had to start at the back of the line again. I did clomid in NOv when DD was 2 and in the process of weaning. She nursed through it, but my milk supply did stop. I think that was in part because she was down to 2 nursings a day.

I hope this helps. It's a tough decision. My DH is almost 51 and that clock ticks louder every day. But like other aspects of parenthood, you have to do the risk/benefit analysis and do what is right for you and your family.

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kerrybennysmama

Discussion Starter · #4 · Apr 23, 2009

thanks for the info. You guys were actually more informative than the RE. I dont want to rush my DS on weaning however if I am going to have more I would like to do it sooner rather than later. This last loss I had actually became pregnant on my own, which was a big suprise. I lost the baby at 8 weeks. My progesterone did drop but the RE said he doesnt believe it was the breastfeeding since that usually occurs in early pregnancy and mine was good in the beginning but dropped sometime around the time the baby stopped developing. I havent gotten the chromosomes back yet, but I think its going to come back as a chromosomal problem.

Stephanie95 - if I read right are you currently pregnant? and if so did you do it using Clomid?

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