Fertility Treatments and Breastfeeding

kellyj55 · June 2011

Hi everyone! I am currently breastfeeding my almost 8 month old daughter. I'm getting baby fever and would like to try for number 2. To conceive my daughter I did Femera+Ovidrel. Has anyone done fertility treatments and breastfed at the same time?

What is the protocol for trying to conceive again with an RE after already having a baby? Thanks!!

TandW · June 2011

My RE said we had to wait 2-3 months before we could undergo any treatment whatsoever (he recommended 3 mos). Because of that, I weaned so that we could start IVF for #2 this summer.

GL!

dulcinea03 · June 2011

My RE won't do any treatments until you've completely weaned other than a completely unmedicated IUI. There just are too many unknowns on how the drugs may affect milk and your baby. That and nursing adds a whole new set of hormonal factors to take into account.

Mrs.Reem · June 2011

You don't want to expose your little one to the hormones, and generally the prolactin created from breastfeeding will hinder your success rates, so RE's won't allow a breast feeding mother to cycle. I just had to have my prolactin levels among others tested to be sure it was at an acceptable level before cycling. Others have to wait 3 mos.

The_Spanish_Inquisition · June 2011

Like the pps, my RE will not allow cycling until after weaning - 3 months for his patients, although that differs from doc to doc. Lowest I've heard has been 2 mos, longest was 6.

GL!

alchris · June 2011

Eight months is still quite early, but I waited 2 years before going back to my RE, armed with b/w that showed very low prolactin levels, and charts that were back exactly where they were before getting pg with #1. Of course we had to be careful because I couldn't take anything that would affect DD, which of course includes most meds, but he had no problem treating me with that in mind (I could still be monitored, trigger and take a booster, have surgery, LOL, etc.). Because my hormone levels and cycles were already back to normal, I could have weaned and started meds the same day. Again, it'd be totally different at 8 months though since it'd be rare that your hormone levels and cycles would already be back to normal. Good luck!

naflmj · June 2011

They need to be completly weaned...every RE has different amounts of time they want you to wait once weaned. I decided to wait until a year for that reason.

For me, they did a SIS and bloodwork and that was it. I had one Embryo so we did an FET.

ladychicago · June 2011

I had to have one full cycle post weaning before my RE would let us cycle. Because we were doing IVF with a frozen protocol, my RE only required an ultrasound to check for any uterine abnormalities following birth (which led them to find a polyp that had to be removed), but that was it. Good luck!

AvaLikeLava · June 2011

Yep, another sad "you gotta wait it out" confirmation here too. We did natural FETs, but they still wanted me to have 2 full cycles post-nursing before getting into treatment.

My RE wasn't as concerned about meds via BM, since again, we did natural FETs, but they were concerned about lining as mentioned above.

Good luck. I know it's a hard choice to make, but whatever you decide will be right for you.

NiniJ55 · June 2011

I weaned before trying. We waited about 2 months after my last pumping session to TTTC#2.

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