combo pills at 14m pp?

[Vicki S]

I just got back from seeing my doctor. She had three ideas about how
to deal with my never-ending spotting:
try dong quai (a chinese herb I know pretty much nothing about);
try acupuncture (not a likely choice for me, it's not my style, it's
probably not covered by my insurance, and who would watch my children
while i went to the appointments?);
or try 2 or 3 months of regular combination (not progesterone only)
birth control pills.
She also got two vials of my blood to check my iron and my thyroid.

So! What do you wise folks know about dong quai? And, can I safely
take combination birth control pills, or could they still dry up my
milk? DD only nurses about 5 to 7 times per (24hr) day. She's 14
months old now and surely my body knows how to make that small amount
of milk after all this time, even if I took the pill, right? Wrong? I
have no idea and neither did the doc, so I said I'd look into it
myself. Any wisdom? Web sites?

Thanks for any help you can give,
---
--- Vicki in Indiana

Married my dear husband Joshua on May 21, 1995.
Ima shel DS, born 11/16/99 and breastfed for 22 months;
and Ima shel DD, still nursing. Born at home, 05/19/02.
http://www.geocities.com/vyxter/
An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. -Spanish proverb
Names I like: Adele, Amelia, Chloe, Corinne, Lionel, Orlando, Theodore,
Timothy.

[JoelnCaryn]

>And, can I safely
>take combination birth control pills, or could they still dry up my
>milk? DD only nurses about 5 to 7 times per (24hr) day. She's 14
>months old now and surely my body knows how to make that small amount
>of milk after all this time, even if I took the pill, right? Wrong? I
>have no idea and neither did the doc, so I said I'd look into it
>myself.

I do know someone who had to switch off the combipill because her daughter was
crashing down through the weight percentiles and holding out for the mama milk
to come back. She'd never been much of a fan of solids and is only now, at age
2, starting to eat any significant amount of calories from them. The mom
figured out what was going on when she realized the daughter had actually
*lost* weight and had been nursing literally all night long. She told me it
was amazingly obvious how much milk came back within two days of stopping the
pill.

However, her doc sees a lot of breastfeeders, and said, "sure, the baby's a
year old, we can put you on the regular pill no problem!", so I assume they
don't often see that. Might just have been her particular biochemistry.

--
Caryn
mama to Oscar, 10/20/02

[JoelnCaryn]

>>However, her doc sees a lot of breastfeeders, and said, "sure, the baby's a
>>year old, we can put you on the regular pill no problem!", so I assume they
>>don't often see that. Might just have been her particular biochemistry.
>
>Well, I don't know if this is true of the population that doctor sees, but in
>my experience a lot of women who are still nursing at a year aren't nursing
>*much*. I'd say about half the women I know in real life who nursed over a
>year
>were cutting way back as soon as they'd gotten to 12-15 months. That includes
>me with my twins -- I wasn't aware at that time of there being much benefit
>of
>going past a year, and was only doing so because it was convenient.
>

Hmmm. I would certainly characterize this little girl as an avid nurser at age
1 (heck, at age 2) as she wasn't getting many calories from solids. But I
don't know if that ped sees avid one-year-old nursers, or just one-year-olds
who nurse occasionally.

So I guess it might depend more on whether or not Zipporah likes a lot of
solids. :-)

--
Caryn
mama to Oscar, 10/20/02

[iphigenia]

Vicki S wrote:
>>
>> So! What do you wise folks know about dong quai?

It has phytoestrogenic effects, so if you get menstrual migraines, steer
clear of it. Then again, if you're looking into combipills, I wouldn't think
that a problem for you anyway. Other than that, it doesn't appear
problematic for BF.

>> And, can I safely
>> take combination birth control pills, or could they still dry up my
>> milk?

According to Hale, once BF is firmly established, estrogen is OK and
*shouldn't* significantly impact supply. Since she's over 1, I wouldn't
worry about it too much.

--
iphigenia
www.tristyn.net

[Vicki S]

iphigenia > wrote:

> > Vicki S wrote: So! What do you wise folks know about dong quai?
> It has phytoestrogenic effects, so if you get menstrual migraines, steer
> clear of it. Then again, if you're looking into combipills, I wouldn't think
> that a problem for you anyway. Other than that, it doesn't appear
> problematic for BF.

I've gotten a few headaches in my life, but I don't think I've ever
gotten a migraine, menstrual or not. So maybe today I'll see if I can
find some of this dong quai stuff and read a label or two. Maybe I'll
even buy some. :)

> >> And, can I safely take combination birth control pills,
> >> or could they still dry up my milk?
> According to Hale, once BF is firmly established, estrogen is OK and
> *shouldn't* significantly impact supply. Since she's over 1, I wouldn't
> worry about it too much.

Thank you so much for looking that up for me. I was really feeling a
little desperate for that sort of answer - meaning scientific, not
anecdotal. This makes me think I'll end up giving the combo pill a
try. If I do start on it, I'm sure I'll be posting here wanting to
know "how will I know if my milk is drying up?!" I still want DD to
nurse for actual milk, not just comfort! (For a long time yet.)

I had a talk with DH last night and he is VERY nervous about me taking
anything hormonal, but I think he's overreacting just a tad. I mean,
they might make me grumpy, but not dangerous to the children (which is
what he fears). And I'd only take the bc pills for two months, maybe
three if two months didn't stop the spotting. If three didn't stop the
spotting I'd bail and regroup. But I think I'll probably start by
taking dong quai. Seems easier - possibly even cheaper. I don't
particularly expect the stuff to work, but maybe it will anyway. :)

---
--- Vicki in Indiana

Married my dear husband Joshua on May 21, 1995.
Ima shel DS, born 11/16/99 and breastfed for 22 months;
and Ima shel DD, still nursing. Born at home, 05/19/02.
http://www.geocities.com/vyxter/
An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. -Spanish proverb
Names I like: Adele, Amelia, Chloe, Corinne, Lionel, Orlando, Theodore,
Timothy.

[Mary Ann Tuli]

Vicki S wrote:
> I just got back from seeing my doctor. She had three ideas about how
> to deal with my never-ending spotting:
> try dong quai (a chinese herb I know pretty much nothing about);
> try acupuncture (not a likely choice for me, it's not my style, it's
> probably not covered by my insurance, and who would watch my children
> while i went to the appointments?);
> or try 2 or 3 months of regular combination (not progesterone only)
> birth control pills.
> She also got two vials of my blood to check my iron and my thyroid.
>
> So! What do you wise folks know about dong quai? And, can I safely
> take combination birth control pills, or could they still dry up my
> milk? DD only nurses about 5 to 7 times per (24hr) day. She's 14
> months old now and surely my body knows how to make that small amount
> of milk after all this time, even if I took the pill, right? Wrong? I
> have no idea and neither did the doc, so I said I'd look into it
> myself. Any wisdom? Web sites?
>
> Thanks for any help you can give,
> ---
> --- Vicki in Indiana

Hello Vicki,
I used combi pills while nursing from when my son was just over a year
to when he weaned at 3 1/2.

Give it a go for a month or so and see how you get on.

Mary Ann

[H Schinske]

>iphigenia > wrote:
>
>> > Vicki S wrote: So! What do you wise folks know about dong quai?
>> It has phytoestrogenic effects, so if you get menstrual migraines, steer
>> clear of it. Then again, if you're looking into combipills, I wouldn't
>think
>> that a problem for you anyway. Other than that, it doesn't appear
>> problematic for BF.

http://webmd.lycos.com/content/article/24/1825_50367

""Our studies show that dong quai and ginseng stimulate the growth of [breast
cancer] cells," write Paula Amato, MD, from the department of obstetrics and
gynecology at Houston's Baylor College of Medicine, and colleagues. Their
findings appear in the most recent issue of Menopause."

"The team tested four herbs commonly used to fight hot flashes and other
menopausal symptoms: dong quai, ginseng, black cohosh, and licorice root. They
looked at what effect each of the herbs had on samples of human breast cancer
cells and whether they had any estrogen-like properties either in a test tube
or in live mice."

"None of the herbs exhibited estrogen-like effects, but the dong quai and the
ginseng both "significantly induced growth" of the cancer cells, the
researchers write."

--Helen

[JoelnCaryn]

>Thank you so much for looking that up for me. I was really feeling a
>little desperate for that sort of answer - meaning scientific, not
>anecdotal. This makes me think I'll end up giving the combo pill a
>try. If I do start on it, I'm sure I'll be posting here wanting to
>know "how will I know if my milk is drying up?!"

Ah, but that's exactly why I posted anecdotal evidence: you'll know if she's
nursing all night long every night. :-)

--
Caryn
mama to Oscar, 10/20/02

[Vicki S]

I want to thank everyone who replied to my questions. DH and I have
talked about it and made a decision about our next step. I'm going to
get the IUD removed and switch to another plan. I'm sure it will all
work out great. :)

---
--- Vicki in Indiana

Married my dear husband on May 21, 1995.
Ima shel DS, born 11/16/99 and breastfed for 22 months;
and Ima shel DD, still nursing. Born at home, 05/19/02.
http://www.geocities.com/vyxter/
An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. -Spanish proverb
Names I like: Adele, Amelia, Chloe, Corinne, Lionel, Orlando, Theodore,
Timothy.