Anyone cycled while still breastfeeding?

[vickyaust]

Hi All,
I am still breastfeeding my 14 month old son twice a day and want to try for a with Dr Potter in the USA this year. I was planning to IVF with my Aust doc and he was not concerned about my BF'ing but told me my milk would likely decrease. I don't mind as long as its baby led weaning and not me making the decision.
I have only had one mini period since the baby's birth but my bloods show everything is normal.
Anyone been in a similar situation?
Will it delay my IVF?

[MatildaMai]

I'm pretty sure the answer is no. This issues has arisen a number of times (mostly I think with women going to Dr P) and I'm almost certain he insists that everyone weans first and takes a month or two for AF to return prior to doing the pretesting and then commencing the cycle. The best thing to do is schedule a consult with the RE in the US you want to go to and discuss it with them.

I've done IVF in the UK, Australia and the US, and I can tell you that everything from the pretesting to the the protocols, is very very different in the US. They tend to be a lot more rigorous in pretesting (especially in checking the uterus) in the US. And whereas in Australia most docs favour antagonist protocols and use minimal amounts of GonalF or Purgeon and some Cetrotide to prevent ovulation, that's not the case in the US. Their protocols are a lot more aggressive, there's usually a period of down regulation on BCPs, and then lupron, and they often use Menopur or Luveris in conjunction with the GonalF. I would not want to be b'feeding while on those drugs.

I guess the main difference is that in Australia we do IVF for infertility reasons only. So 3 or 4 nice mature eggs is seen as a good result. They don't want more than that or it gives rise to storage and other issues. However, when you are doing gender selection you want a least double that amount of mature eggs as half are likely to be abnormal and half are going to be the undesired gender. And if you have infertility issues on top of that as I do then it becomes difficult. Of course your outcome depends on your age, pretesting, how you respond to the meds etc and you'll have some idea of that already. Good luck. Look forward to following your cycle.

[DoulaMama]

There was a blog about a lady who did IVF while still nursing...I'll see if I can hunt it down. I believe it was a very low med cycle- she got pregnant right away, I believe.

[nuthinbutpink]

For GS I would never do that. This is a numbers games and a TON of money on the line. You're not even supposed to do pretesting while BF.

We are NOT designed to function that way. We are not supposed to have another baby while caring for a baby. You can't go into this BF. it would be very naive to assume all would be well with your cycle. This is a high dose, high stakes wager. You don't need anything evoking against you and that will.

[vickyaust]

Thanks all.
I contacted Lori at Dr Potters office and I do have to stop all BF'ing prior to IVF. I was already down to 1 or 2 feeds a day so have dropped to 1 or 0 now and think thats it for me. Very sad to stop cause my son and I have bonded so much while feeding and overcome lots of BF'ing issues. But its important for me to move forward given I am 37 and 38 in September.
Thanks again.

[Dr. Potter]

Hi All,
I am still breastfeeding my 14 month old son twice a day and want to try for a with Dr Potter in the USA this year. I was planning to IVF with my Aust doc and he was not concerned about my BF'ing but told me my milk would likely decrease. I don't mind as long as its baby led weaning and not me making the decision.
I have only had one mini period since the baby's birth but my bloods show everything is normal.
Anyone been in a similar situation?
Will it delay my IVF?

It is not a good idea to cycle while breast feeding. You will be taking many medicines, some of which will end up in the breast milk. In nature it is unlikely that breastfeeding extends much farther than the first teeth being cut but I know that is an emotional decision.

[vickyaust]

Many thanks Dr Potter. I have fully stopped and we are adjusting well.
Looking forward to meeting you on Skype in a few weeks.