Anyone wonder how hormones in breastmilk affects LOs?

mrsrep123

DH and I have been wondering how my hormones, along with starting the mini pill, may affect our son's development
in the long run. Been trying to do research but it's pretty limited, although been finding international articles from universities and such. Emailed my pediatrician and lactation consultant, but they can only report what drug books say (that only a minimal amount of the hormone enters breastmilk) and they both won't touch on the other hormones. I did find one U.S. Study that states the long term effects on LOs sexual reproductive organs are unknown.

Basically, with all of this research, we are trying to find the optimal time to wean breastmilk. Of course we know and want to reap all of the benefits of it BUT not being in a third world country - even scholars are questioning how long to exclusively feed with breastmilk.

Anyone want to share your thoughts?

klirwin82

I feel like yes, they'll get a certain amount of hormones through BM but they'll get all kinds of junk through what's dissolved in water these days - birth control, antidepressants etc. Exposure just through showering. A lot of studies have shown these contaminants have drastically impacted the age at which girls first menstruate. For me, I'm not about to take baths in Dasani so I'm not sure there's much we can do about it. Regarding weaning age, I'm planning on going 6 months then re-assessing. Mainly because I think BFing is so labor intensive. I might miss it though, plus I have heard formula is expensive so who knows. And I'm not super eager to jump to sugary purées or some yogurt-covered cereal snack things I saw at BRU, I don't want him to eat a bunch of processed crap, I'll probably make my own baby food so no doubt that'll be equally labor intensive!!

shaley29

klirwin82 said:

I feel like yes, they'll get a certain amount of hormones through BM but they'll get all kinds of junk through what's dissolved in water these days - birth control, antidepressants etc. Exposure just through showering. A lot of studies have shown these contaminants have drastically impacted the age at which girls first menstruate. For me, I'm not about to take baths in Dasani so I'm not sure there's much we can do about it. Regarding weaning age, I'm planning on going 6 months then re-assessing. Mainly because I think BFing is so labor intensive. I might miss it though, plus I have heard formula is expensive so who knows. And I'm not super eager to jump to sugary purées or some yogurt-covered cereal snack things I saw at BRU, I don't want him to eat a bunch of processed crap, I'll probably make my own baby food so no doubt that'll be equally labor intensive!!

All if this. The amount is probably equally as small as the amount in water and look what it's doing to us. Unfortunately not much we can do, except try not to sweat the things we can't control! The benefits outweigh the risk so keep on BF that baby!

mrsrep123

@klirwin82 lol, yeah, won't be showering with bottled water either! Actually, we got rid of all plastics from our kitchen when we found out we were pregnant (something we were trying to do for awhile) due to all of the leaching of chemicals into food. We went ALL glass. We too want to stay away from all the processed foods so been researching how to make our own baby food as well.

@shaley29 I agree, the benefits of breastmilk are so evident that we will continue

mers90

Can you take the mini pill while BF? I've never met a doctor who lets you take hormonal BC while BF, but I'm in Mexico and I know that kind of stuff is different for each country so I'm just curious.

mrsrep123

They recommend progestin only BCP vs combo estrogen-progestin BCP when BFing as it doesn't effect supply and only a small amount passes through... According to physicians, pharmacists, etc.

cecilespies

My dr prescribed the mini pill because it doesn't have estrogen. Apparently that's what makes it safe

mrsjones1012

Yes on what PPs said about the mini pill, also you have to take it at the same time every day. I also agree that the benefit of continuing BFing is greater than the risk of some negligible amounts of hormones affecting baby. But if you'd like to wean due to the mini pill, I suppose I'd start the process the first month you're on it. It takes a full cycle to become effective I believe, so it stands to reason that the hormones wouldn't achieve s steady-state level until the end of it. This would give you time to wean onto (organic?) formula. Note this is an educated guess, haven't done this myself.

ETA have you considered the paragard IUD? Non hormonal.

mrsrep123

@mrsjones1012 I got freaked out about the risks with an IUD so ended up going the mini pill route.

When we had to supplement with formula for the first week, we used Baby's Only Organic Dairy with DHA & ARA. We did sooooo much research and comparing of ingredients... And luckily it agreed with LO. So when we do transition, we'll be using it again.