FET while nursing

karen5

Hi ladies!  I was wondering if anyone has nursed during a FET?  

I had my first son via IVF and he is currently 14 months old, we are still nursing and I would love to continue. I had a consult with my infertility doctor and he mentioned that both estrogen and progesterone given during a FET were ok during nursing but preferred if i didn't breastfeed.  I would love to do both, but would love to hear anyones story if they have gone through it.

Thanks so much in advance.

BookishMomma

karen5 said:

Hi ladies!  I was wondering if anyone has nursed during a FET?  

I had my first son via IVF and he is currently 14 months old, we are still nursing and I would love to continue. I had a consult with my infertility doctor and he mentioned that both estrogen and progesterone given during a FET were ok during nursing but preferred if i didn't breastfeed.  I would love to do both, but would love to hear anyones story if they have gone through it.

Thanks so much in advance.

Personally, I wouldn't do it, but that's just me. Not necessarily because of the transfer of meds from you to DS through milk, but also because FET is taxing on your body, as is nursing. 14 months is a totally reasonable time to wean--your son is probably getting most of his nutrients from other foods at this point anyway. Again, that's just what I would do personally. I also wouldn't breastfeed while pregnant, but I have a history of recurrent pregnancy loss, so I'm probably more cautious than most. No judgment as to those who might choose differently.

Edit: typos

GraceyandTroy

I really wanted to let my son nurse as long as he wanted and to possibly even tandem nurse.  But, I weaned around 15 months because my cycles just weren't normalizing.  I also wanted to move forward with more aggressive intervention… but none of that has worked out for me yet.  

In any rate, I would not nurse while doing any kind of treatment because nursing impacts your hormones so much that I wouldn't want to risk the nursing being an interference with the cycle.  YKWIM?  

phishgirl29

My RE wouldn't even cycle with me until I had 3 cycles after weaning. I don't think its a good idea.

HawaiianSunset09

Im all for extended breastfeeding. My son weaned himself a week before he turned 18m. I was happy about it as we wanted to do treatment and even though my doctor had given me the ok, I was nervous to do treatment and breastfeed. I think if he hadn't of weaned himself though, I would have gone forward with the shots to conceive while breastfeeding. I've had several losses, but I didnt want to take something so beneficial away from my son to try for a sibling. Im SO thankful he decided to wean himself as that was my goal our entire breastfeeding relationship. It has definitely made things easier for trying and he is actually more cuddly now that we don't nurse so I still get lots of snuggles! 

However I haven't done IVF yet, SOOO that would probably change things if I was doing a FET.  Its such a hard decision as you dont want to take away from the child you have, but at the same time the baby fever can be so strong and knowing you have to have treatment to conceive does make you want to go to it quickly.

HawaiianSunset09

Oh and to add, my prolactin was back in the normal range less than a month after he stopped.