Birth Control While Breast Feeding

I was on the mini pill after my first two children were born and had no problem at all with my supply of milk. (tubes were done after the third or I would have done it again)

I am on the minipill and have been since my 6 week appt. So far things have gone well and I have not experience any trouble with my milk supply. My boy's pretty healthy and growing well :)

I used minipill with both of my daughters, the first was a perfect experience with milk supply and didnt' begin my period until she was about 9months old. With the second, I had no milk supply issues, but started my period 6 weeks after she was born. I conclude that every body is different, as well as every birth. You take a bigger chance getting pregnant not using anything while nursing, than you do with taking the pill. Also, any pill is meant to be taken within 4+/- hours of the last time you took it. (take it at 8pm and you should take it the following day between 4-12pm). This was advised by my dr. when I was taking regular birth control.

I am also on the mimi pill and have had no problems with supply. I went on after my 6 wk appt and am still nursing my 6 mo now. I did have one period around 4 mo but have had nothing since. A few people I've talked to have said that the mini pill isn't effective for birth control but my dr. says it is as long as you remember to take it at the right time.

Hello Victoria,
I don't know much about 'pills' except the bad experience I had with them. Are you aware that there is a La Leche League group that meets in Front Royal the 2nd tues. of each month? The co-leaders are a wealth of knowledge on breast feeding questions of any nature. There is also a yahoo group for the LLL group for in month questions (http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/FrontRoyalLLL/). The leaders are very friendly and helpful. I hope this is of some help to you and it would be great to meet you if you can come to the next meeting! (2nd tues of september at 431 W 14th St Front Royal)
Peace,
K.

I have taken the minipill after both of my kids were born and I have never noticed a problem with milk supply.

Hi Victoria,
Congratulation on the birth of your baby! I am currently on the mini-pill and have no problems with milk supply, my baby is almost 4 months old. The mini pill doesn't contain estrogen, estrogen is what affects the milk supply. Take care.

I have a 5 month old son and have been on the minipill since he was 6 weeks old. I have no problem at all with my milk supply. In fact I have a really good milk supply and I'm able to pump extra to freeze.

I started taking the minipill at about 2 months post-partum. I went back to work just after that and then moved into a new house 3 months PP. My supply took a plummet, but it may have been all of the other stresses I was experiencing. I stopped taking it after a couple months, thinking that it may have been contributing to my low supply, and deciding my husband and I would just have to be careful ;) I also started taking Mother's Milk tea, and my supply came back up a bit.

I'm still very happily nursing my 21 month old son, and I'm 12 weeks pregnant with #2...on purpose, I might add ;) The 'being careful' strategy worked well for us :)

Good luck to you, whatever you choose!

I've heard that people love it and have had no problem with milk supply, although, everyone I've personally known to have taken it has gotten pregnant on it within a year of their 1st baby.

Just wanted to let you know!!

Hi, I went on the mini pill after my daughter who is six now and had no trouble with milk supply. With my son, I did not go on it and DID have trouble with supply so go figure! Also, my sister breastfeeds her 6 mo old and is on the minipill and has no trouble with supply. Hope that helped some.

K.

I breastfed my son for 15 months and was on the minipill most of that time. In my experience, as long as i drank alot of water,(i was told to have a bottle in my hand at all times) i produced plenty of milk. By the way, i had a very hungry boy and he was taking 8 0z bottles at about 4-5 mos old, so it was challenging, but it wasn't a problem...hope this helps! And good luck!

I'm breastfeeding while on the minipill. As far as I can tell, the pill has not affected my supply. I think other things did (not sure what), but the supply drop did NOT correspond to when I started the minipill.

Good luck!

I took the minipill while bfing my daughter. I didn't go off of it until I was ready to get pregnant again. There was absolutely no change in my milk supply and I was able to nurse her until her 2nd birthday (quit b/c I am pregnant and dried up). I also didn't have a period until I went off of it when I think she was like 19 months old. So that was a bonus. I plan on going back on it after this baby is born in December.

I took it after I had my first. I did not have a drop in supply. Unfortunately, I had a lot of break through bleeding & gave up on it after 2 months.
Good luck!!

First of all congrats on the new addition! Secondly I took the minipill with the same concerns but it was fine, it only has progesterin (sp) in it so it wont affect your milk supply.. Good luck!!

Hi there and congrats!
I am on the mini pill as well. I have been on it for nearly 11 months and still breastfeed my daughter. I have no problems with my milk supply. The best birth control pill while nursing is the mini pill. It is safe for you and the baby and doesn't effect your milk. You don't want to take any other bcp due to the hormones and side effects to the baby. The other alternative to the pill is IUD, Mirena. I tried it, but my uterus was not ready for it, so I had it removed immediatley.
I also took the mini pill the year that I nursed my son. Never had any issue with it! Once you stop nursing, you should get on another type of birth control. From my understanding the mini pill only works if you are nursing?!
~MW

Congratulations and here's my experience and advise. I went on hormonal birth control after I had my first using the NuvaRing which is also a low dose hormone. With my second I had the Paragard IUD inserted. That's the one without hormones. I got my period back immediately on the NuvaRing. With the IUD, my daughter was almost 9 months before it came back. With the mini pill you MUST take it at the same time every day for it to be effective. That can be tricky with a newborn and a toddler. While I don't think that the hormones effected my supply, it did bring my period back early. This time, excluding my postpartum bleeding, I've only had 1 period since February 07. In two weeks we'll see if it was a freak thing or if it's back to stay. Some women find that their supply dips when they're having their period. If you had problems with your supply when you were nursing your first, then I would avoid the mini pill. I'm tandem nursing my girls, but I had just introduced solids in a meaningful way at about 8 months. I noticed a bit of a dip in my supply when I was on my period, but then I was also nursing two. The reason I didn't go back to the hormones was because I can only take them for so long before I get really bad depression, but I've found unexpected benefits for avoiding them.

I had problems with milk supply with both my boys when I started the minipill. With the first I took fenugreek to increase my milk and stayed on the minipill. With my second, I stopped the minipill as I found that much easier way to maintain milk.

J.

Hi Victoria -

Similarly to the other responses, I haven't notice a decrease in my milk supply and I have been on the pill for over three months now. You should be fine :-)

Congratulations on your baby!

i don't think supply is the issue. i wouldn't take anything with hormones that is going to go through the milk supply. i would use physical barriers to birth control while still nursing.
khairete
S.

It worked great for me

I had a similar experience with the minipill -- took it from 6 weeks to 18 months postpartum . . . when I stopped breastfeeding and got Mirena. My period came back around 13 months. I would have rather gone back to my old favorite pill, but my doctor assured me that the minipill would not change my milk supply and my old pill might cause a 10% drop.

I am a certified nurse midwife and i have 3 young ones of my own. i have prescribed and used the minipill with no ill affect on milk supply. the hormone found in the minipill, progesterone, has not been shown to decrease milk supply and my amounts never changed. hope this helps.

K. r.

After all the responses you got I'll out my two cents in; took the minipill after my daughter was born and had no problems with milk supply or anything else. -S

I used the mini-pill twice (after the births of both of my sons). I never had any problems with milk supply. As a matter of fact, I just weened my youngest this past month and have been on the mini-pill. He hasn't nursed in 3 weeks and I STILL have milk.

I know a lot of people who have used the mini-pill while nursing and I've never heard of anyone who had trouble. Best of luck!