swaying while breastfeeding

[atomic sagebrush]

Updated 12-16-17

Can you sway while breastfeeding? YES! With a few changes, you can have a great sway for pink or blue while breastfeeding (note - some other websites do not approve of swaying while breastfeeding.) PLEASE wait till your baby is at least 6-9 months old before starting to sway. DO NOT try to diet or take supplements till your baby is old enough to be eating some solid foods, drinking from a cup, etc.

First off, please read http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...ing=#post17859 This is basic info on how to get pregnant while breastfeeding!

Why might you want to sway while breastfeeding, anyway? Maybe you are hoping to nurse throughout pregnancy and tandem nurse. Or maybe you are planning on weaning if you get a BFP, but you don't want to do it until you absolutely have to. Swaying can take several months so if nursing as long as possible is important to you, there is no need to stop any sooner than you want to, even if you plan on stopping before TTC. You may even want to nurse as a swaying tactic - breastfeeding seems to sway slightly pink (although not enough to deter blue swayers) and it also ups your chances of conceiving twins, which doubles your odds of getting your desired gender!!

Why does breastfeeding sway slightly pink? By lowering fertility overall, helping with weight loss, and reducing blood sugar levels, breastfeeding does seem to sway slightly pink. However, many, many boys (including my own - I got one boy and one girl while breastfeeding) were conceived while breastfeeding. Breastfeeding seems to confer one major advantage for blue by increasing appetite and leading to more calories being burned off - if you eat much more than normal, you will def. be getting more nutrients, more protein, more fat and calories, than you do otherwise. It is also much easier to keep up your milk supply on a boy-friendly diet. Since some blue swayers have small appetites, every little bit may help!

Breastfeeding while swaying pink - The TTC pink diet is safe for breastfeeding, but you should relax your limits on sodium and potassium both for your own sake and that of your baby. We have found that neither sodium nor potassium even appear to sway and you NEED those electrolytes for you and your baby. Do try to lose at least a little weight and eat less calories (this may make it harder to conceive but that is GOOD for pink).
Skip breakfast only if it doesn't impact your milk supply. Your baby will get what he/she needs even if you are not eating massive amounts of protein and fat - aim for 50-60 g protein and fat. Do not drop below this.

The greatest challenge for swaying pink while breastfeeding is keeping your milk supply up. Cut back on what you can and take it a day at a time - eventually you will find a place where you are taking in less food but still have enough to provide milk for your baby. 1800-2000 calories is a good place to start - if you can't produce adequate milk at this level of caloric intake or if you find weight flies off, raise it to 2200 or even beyond. Do not drop below 1800 while nursing.

Exercise can be difficult while nursing a baby but if at all possible, try to do 60 minutes of intense cardio-heavy exercise 4-7 days a week while losing weight. If you have PCOS or tendencies that way, or have more than 30 lbs to lose, you should exercise even if you can only do moderate exercise. The benefits to your blood sugar and for weight loss are so huge it's still a good idea even if you can't do the full 60 minutes.

Vitex, calcium, magnesium, Vit. D, Vit C, and B vitamins are considered safe while breastfeeding in SANE amounts. You should probably even take a bit more folic acid than you would normally, minimum 1200 mcg, to ensure you have enough folic in your system for your new pregnancy - take it in 3 doses, morning noon and night, for best absorption. Folate is even better if you can afford it!

Vitex particularly can be very helpful to help you ovulate while breastfeeding. There are instructions on how to use vitex while breastfeeding in the link above about how to conceive while breastfeeding. NOTE - in the 7 years since we originally started experimenting with vitex to restore cycles, it has seemed to work for some people while seeming to make matters worse for others. I now think it's best to just have patience and wait for your cycle to resume normally without bothering with the vitex.

Clomid also sways pink and is believed to be safe while breastfeeding according to breastfeeding expert Hilary Flower and Thomas Hale, author of Medications and Mother's Milk, although doctors are not always willing to prescribe it to breastfeeding moms. (Warning bad advice coming! ) You ~may~ want to keep your breastfeeding status to yourself when you see your doctor if you are trying to get some Clomid. Femara on the other hand has not been proven safe while nursing. Most doctors still advise against it. It's not proven harmful, either, just that there is a lack of data about its safety.

My recommendation would be NO cranberry other than via diet and avoid baby aspirin all together because both can come through your milk and make your baby prone to bleeding (I have a horror story about cranberry causing bleeding for anyone interested, it really DOES happen!!). Neither of these supplements has even worked anyway. You can use Vit. C while breastfeeding if you want to lower pH and there is a full explanation of that here http://genderdreaming.com/forum/ttc-...echniques.html

Fiber - it is safe while nursing but I suggest not doing it till your baby is at least 9-12 months old and/or is eating many other solid foods. I would also add in a separate DHA and Vitamin D drop for your baby to be sure s/he is getting enough of those two fat soluble nutrients that may be absorbed by fiber supplements.

Hormonal supps like saw palmetto and licorice/white peony/Lydia Pinkham should be avoided. Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners should be avoided in excess (you can have a little artificial sweetener in SANE amounts). Also, avoid Sudafed if at all possible and reduce antihistamines to the day of your attempt only. Zyrtec (cetirizine) is believed safe during breastfeeding, but will dry your milk up for several hours. Benadryl (diphenhydramine) both dries up milk and seems to make a nursing baby drowsy - I strongly suggest skipping Benadryl totally when nursing. NEVER mix alcohol with antihistamine when nursing!

IF your milk does dry up a bit from diet, weight loss, or antihistamines, DON'T panic! Just nurse as much as your baby wants and your body will readjust and start producing more milk.

Coffee is fine in moderation provided it does not make your baby wakeful. You may want to nurse in the morning, then have your coffee afterwards, then waiting a while to nurse again.

Alcohol is also fine. Some people disapprove of alcohol while nursing but given the amount that it comes out in your milk (about the same as in your blood), you would have to drink yourself literally to death before you could possibly make your baby drunk via breastmilk! 1-2 drinks per day is fine. You may want to nurse before having your drink and then waiting a while to nurse again. Also, if alcohol makes you sleepy you should not nurse your baby in bed or in a cozy chair. No sleeping and nursing at the same time!

Other things like douching, gels, timing, ions, hot showers, and the like are ALL perfectly acceptible while you are swaying and of course anything that your DH does is also safe!

Breastfeeding while swaying blue - Be sure to get as many nutrients, calories, and fat as possible. This is easy to do on the boy diet! If you have a lot of allergies in your family, you ~may~ want to avoid nuts and peanuts while breastfeeding. Some researchers believe that eating nuts while breastfeeding may predispose your child to nut allergies (other research indicates that it doesn't!)

While you can safely eat somewhat higher levels of sodium and potassium (remember, I would prefer you get potassium through diet rather than supps because it's safer) and lower levels of calcium and magnesium, please be SANE about this. Don't cut any nutrient out of your diet and don't overdose yourself on any nutrient.

Skip BSD, ASG, and COT but lemon water, gelatin, are fine. Avoid apple cider vinegar (we have dropped this from the blue sway anyway) because it lowers blood sugar levels. Fruit, veg, and coconut water are terrific both for breastfeeding and for swaying blue. So are the various yeast products although I am a bit wary about the kombucha. Green and black teas in moderation are safe while breastfeeding but just be aware that caffeine can come through in breastmilk.

I would avoid wheatgrass supplements and anything containing algaes like spirulina. Wheatgrass supps have seemed to sway pink for us anyway. Spirulina and other algae products have been linked to motor neuron diseases like ALS and I cannot recommend anyone take them as a supplement, occasionally in juice is ok.

Safe supps are any vitamins and minerals in SANE amounts (although I would prefer that you skip potassium in any but the very smallest amounts because it's so easy to get through food), 500 mg fish oil or DHA (NO MORE THAN THIS!!!) and SANE, dietary amounts of garlic. WARNING - even in small amounts, fish oil and garlic CAN come through your milk and since they are blood thinners, you need to make sure that your baby is not bruising more easily if you are taking them. Do NOT take EPO or flaxseed oil, or ingest more than occasional dietary amounts of flaxseed meal. EPO and flax oil are both blood thinners and when added to fish oil will come through your milk and cause bleeding and bruising (and I do have a horror story about this if anyone wants to hear it!) Additionally, EPO has caused opposites for us anyway and flax has been proven unsafe when trying to conceive and pregnant. PLEASE no flaxseed oil or flax in daily smoothies!

Robitussin and Mucinex (guaifenesin) are also considered safe for nursing moms although I would stick to taking it on the day of my attempt only.

None of the herbal formulas are safe because they have too many unknowns. Same with the antioxidants like lycopene, reservatrol, pycogenol and l-arginine and carnitine - we just don't know enough about these to know if they are safe to use while breastfeeding. Upping your intake of fruits and veg will sway safely by providing these nutrients. Avoid Fertile CM as it has l-arginine in it. Royal jelly and bee pollen should be avoided because it may come through your milk and predispose your baby to allergies. In fact RJBP should be avoided in blue sways anyway because it does nothing you aren't already getting from diet and other supplements, it messes up people's cycles terribly, and it can even make YOU more likely to develop a potentially fatal insect allergy!!

Other things like douching, gels, timing, ions, and the like are ALL perfectly acceptible while you are swaying and of course anything that your DH does is also safe!

[Out of the Blue]

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for this....Still BF DS#2 and no plans to stop anytime soon so this info is invaluable, Atomic...

[atomic sagebrush]

Here's a link to an interesting thread about one woman's diet while swaying pink and breastfeeding.
http://genderdreaming.com/forum/show...-Breastfeeding!!!

[bodhi]

Thank you so much! I've been really torn about swaying because I'm not ready to give up breastfeeding. It would be terrible to stop breastfeeding before we're ready and then have it take ages to get pregnant anyway. This information has been extremely helpful in planning my sway

[DreamingPink]

Thank you for this! I'm in the process of planning my pink sway and I'll hopefully still be BFing DS2 for the first couple months of TTC!

[sixhappysons]

This is fantastic! I plan on ttc pink as soon as this baby arrives and this is just what I needed to see. xx

[indigoviolet]

This is great, didn't want to stop BF, DS2 is only 9 months but desperate to sway pink too. Thanks

[zanacal]

I was so happy to read this post, having seen on other sites recommendations not to sway and BF.

My DS3 is 18 months old and only has 1, max 2 feeds each day. I will stop before another child arrives but don't want to do that sooner than necessary.

The cranberry/baby asprin aspect has me a little uneasy. I know to avoid the baby asprin but what dosage of cranberry would be considered safe while BFing and how necessary is it at all?

Thank you
K x

[atomic sagebrush]

Cran isn't a must do for swaying at all. Most of the baby girls ever conceived were conceived without the benefit of cranberry! Cranberry also has nutrients in it and an excess of nutrients may sway blue. I would not lose any sleep over forgoing cranberry.

[zanacal]

Thank you x