Breastfeeding & IVF

So... Jack is 10 months now, and my plan has been to break my heart (cease breastfeeding) after 12 months. Clearly not on his birthday, because that's just mean. This plan was based on a rumour that I have to be fully weaned for a full 6 months before starting to make baby #2. We have no embryos left in the freezer, so I need to be harvested.

My question is: what is the truth here? Does the 6mths apply to just embryo transfer, or does it apply for egg retrieval also?

I think I'll just go see the FS in May, anyway. But I just wanted to know what other people have done.

Cheers.

Hi
I have no idea what the answer to this is, but will be very interested to see others. I have recently fallen pregnant with our first IVF baby and am already wanting a plan for our next in the back of my mind :)
Gi Gi

I BFd DS up to 15 months, (but at that stage it was only one feed a day). When I had my FS appointment at about 14 months to start up for No 2 he said that I would need to have stopped by the time we started. This was because it lowers your fertility and they want you to have the best chance. (He didn't say anything about whether the hormones came through milk but I imagine they do and I didn't want DS getting a huge whack of oestrogen!).

I started an FET cycle about two weeks after I stopped BF and got a BFP! So for me it all worked out well, but I'm not sure if it would be different if I had been doing a fresh cycle. Also, the fact that I had had regular periods since about 5 months post DS and was only down to one feed per day probably made the difference too.

Good luck Entreat - it's a scary prospect going back to IVF land again ain't it!

Er, no. It really depends on your cycles. Are you having them at the moment? You will get a different answer on this from pretty much everyone you ask, but if you're having normal cycles while breastfeeding, you may not need to wean at all (depends exactly on teh drugs you're going to take and obviously whether you want to continue)
The ABA may be able to give you more info - there's at least one counsellor who has investigated this. You can listen to a podcast she gave on the subject HERE (No. 22).
I did not wean when I did an HRT cycle. I had been having regular cycles for 6 months previously. The drugs dried up my milk and DS weaned once I was a couple of months pregnant.
The short answer is: You need to be having cycles, I don't see why you would need to have weaned for that long.

Sorry - I forgot about this... :blush:

Cycles are regular (about 4 months now). We're still feeding lots during the day & night, but I don't actually want to be pregnant until Jack is much closer to 2yo. I'd just like to get the eggies out a bit earlier.

Thanks for the podcast link. I'll get to that this week. MammaSue sent me this link too: Breastfeeding Through Fertility Treatments (IVF and FET) – updated with info on prolactin and implantation It has great info that one woman has dug up in regards to the hormone treatments. It makes me feel a lot better. I'll be calling the clinic this week & find out their procedures.

TBH, I'd only heard rumour & hear-say from various forums when I was googling for information. I really posted to see what other people had done. Not many of us out there by the looks of things. ;)

Thanks again. I'll be back when I find out from the clinic.

Thanks for that Entreat
I was actulaly never asked if I was still feeding and didn't volunteer the information. They probably just assumed I would have stopped by then I suppose.

Could we keep this thread somewhere? Make it a sticky maybe? As Entreat said, there isn't many of us in this position and would be awesome to keep adding to it as we get more information :D

Yeah, I"ve replied to 4-5 of them to date :)
I'll try and put something together

I continued to breastfeed my son through two cycles of IVF and also all through my pregnancy. My daughter is now 3 1/2 months old and they both love their "mumma milk". I discussed continuing to breastfeed with my IVF doctor and also the ABA. My IVF doctor was happy for me to continue based on the drugs I would be taking (nothing out of the ordinary and fairly low dose) but warned me the drugs might reduce mt milk supply. The ABA pointed me to the podcast posted earlier, and told me that the woman that did the podcast would be happy to talk to me over the phone if I had any more questions.

My milk supply didn't drop during the IVF cycles, but did drop dramatically when I was pregnant. My son went from 10-12 feeds a day, down to 2-3, but he was still happy to suck away :) When I had my egg collections I was put on an IV drip to keep my fluid levels up so it wouldn't effect my breastfeeding. And they also let me have my son with me right up until they took me to theatre so I could give him a feed right before :)

Sticky HERE to collate info
Mylitta I copied your post from your thread, hope you don't mind :)

I don't mind at all. If the info can even help one woman continue to breastfeed during IVF then I'd be over the moon :D

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My IVF doctor was happy for me to continue based on the drugs I would be taking (nothing out of the ordinary and fairly low dose) but warned me the drugs might reduce mt milk supply.

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i suspect this would be a pretty important factor, so it would be personl to each person individually. at a guess, the dose required for harvest for someone with MF or PGD requirements (so mumma ovulates ok and responds well to the drugs) would be very different to what would happen for someone like myself (i was on 200IU puregon just for 1 follicle for IUI, 350+ for EPU) as well as other supporting drugs.

i think it would fantastic to not HAVE to wean to go through further IVF treatment if you can manage it

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i think it would fantastic to not HAVE to wean to go through further IVF treatment if you can manage it

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This is ultimately why I'd like to get as much information as I can.... not even necessarily for me, but for others who are in the position of wanting more babies through IVF who are currently breast feeding. It would be awesome for women to be able to at least be armed with information when talking to their FS's about future cycles/ babies.

BG is right, it would absolutely depend on what drugs and what dosage you will be having. I was already proven fertile as had my husband, and we were going through IVF for PGD reasons. I had to use Gonal-F, Orgalutran and Progesterone. My Gonal-F dose was on the lower end, even in my second cycle when it was increased to get more eggs. Had I been on a much larger coktail of drugs at much higher doses I was going to try to express and dump (just to keep up my supply) for my entire IVF cycle if possible, and give my son frozen EBM that I had in the freezer. We knew that we wanted another baby fairly soon after my son, so I had been expressing and freezing breastmilk for about a year (in deep freezer) and had about 8-9 litres stored in case I needed to wean him. I'm a good cow though, so I know that doing something like that does not come easy to everyone, so I really do count my blessings for that.

EDIT: Lol, the forum edited the correct spelling of "coktail", hehe.

entreat, Thank you so much for posting this thread, we have an appointment booked to see the FS when DS is 10mths old and plan to 'start' IVF again just after he turns one or maybe at the start of next year. I too am finding this pulling at heartstrings atm due to loiving bfing so much and not wanting to enforce weaning, I would prefer he self wean (whenever that may be) he has currently just started to wean after switching the feeds/food around (and now sleeping better at night) but AF has not yet returned for me, and im not thinking i will see her before we go back to IVF, as I often go without af even while 'trying'

so very interested in this thread. I am yet to discuss with my FS (July) but will be happy to return here to post what has been suggested :)

GL with your planning of the cycle

and big thank you to all who have responded with information