There's a woman in the ABA who's done some research on this, including possible effects of various drugs on the baby. The bottom line is that you don't necessarily have to wean. If you're having regular, ovulatory cycles while breastfeeding, then it is obviously not affecting your fertility.
In regards to prolactin levels, it's important to remember that while prolactin is high in the early months, it returns to lower levels even as you continue breastfeeding, so it will not necessarily have any bearing on your fertility.
i suspect FS' that insist on breastfeeding a following the standard, let's do everything we can philosophpy, regardless of whether it actually makes a difference. The thing is, also, while some FS are adamant that you must wean, others are fine with you continuing to breastfeed - they can't all be right.
there was a thread about this somewhere, but I can't find it now. MR's already linked to the podcast
At the end of the day it's your choice to make - how do they know you're breastfeeding anyway? Only if you tell them. I didn't mention it and continued. I thought I would need to wean and started the process, but then found this info and did not stop (we did an HRT cycle). Unfortunately my supply was so low at this point that it disappeared after a week on progynova. DS continued feeding till 8-9 weeks into the pregnancy (despite the lack of milk). I regret that I precipitated weaning. Fortunately the FET worked. If it had not, then I would have weaned for nothing and I'm sure I would feel even worse about taht - my son was not ready to stop.
If we have to do all this again, I will try to keep my supply up gonig into the FET, so hopefully we can continue (so long as my child wants to obviously). This is particularly important to me if the cycle does not work.
We are currently doing an FET cycle and when I rang to book in with the FS to discuss the plan the first question I was asked was "Are you B'Fing", when I said that I wasn't I was told it was then ok to proceed but if I was B'Fing they wouldn't do an FET cycle.
I hope your little ice babies have a safe flight across the world to you. Goodluck.
If you are told to stop breastfeeding and don't want to, it's worthwhile looking into it more - the podcast is a good start and the speaker in the podcast can be contacted with further questions (let me know if you want to be put in touch). As Marcellus said, it is very much the same as other types of treatment and drugs - most doctors don't have the latest information on safety while breastfeeding so say it's not ok to protect themselves. In any specialised field it is always worth doing your own research if you are not happy with the medical advice. It is a really tough decision for anyone to make, and I am sure having lots of information makes it easier to rest assured you are doing the right thing.
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