advice of doing a FET while breastfeeding? To do or not?

[Ivferrr]

hello beautiful ladies! I love this community and pray/send baby dust frequently to all of us 💜 I’m wondering thoughts on breastfeeding during FET, stopping before FET, and if so timeline to do so?! It’s a conundrum because I don’t want to rush by baby boy- he’s 13 months, my periods returned very quickly postpartum and they are normal AND we only have one embaby left so I will give it the BEST shot possible. All resources and experiences are welcome. Thank you!

[DreamingOfTwo79]

Hello Ivferrr. Congratulations on your beautiful little boy! IVF and breastfeeding is strongly discouraged as most medication if not all medication is not compatible with breastfeeding. You absolutely do not want to expose your young child to those extreme levels of hormones. My consultant was very clear with me when we started IVF that the one condition I must fulfil is to stop breastfeeding. Please be mindful of your living child's long term health and development.

[Purpledoggy]

If you want to do a completely natural FET then there is no contraindication, but your clinic won’t give you any meds while you’re BF. In terms of whether BF might affect a natural FET, you’d be best asking your clinic. I would imagine the amount a 13mo eats won’t affect your fertility much, but it might a little, and if it fails you need to feel comfortable with your choice, whether it is stopping or not xx

[pink_lemon]

Hello, you might want to join a group on fb called Breastfeeding mums undergoing IVF. They have really good resources and plenty of people with experience with this. I am one of them now. Every clinic has different attitude to this option. You can do your own research and take a decision. Especially with natural fet there is really no difference to getting pregnant naturally. Your milk might dry up quicker, as with every pregnancy. It might not and you could breastfeed throughout. No one will tell you in advance. There is no research on effects of breastfeeding on ivf transfer success but when I asked my clinic (that keeps their own stats), they said it is about the same as non bf women. I think the group is trying to hold some stats and have similar results, though it is not official research. Feel free to pm me if you cannot find the group. There is much more reading to do if it is something you are considering. xx

[JulseyP]

It's advised against as there isn't enough research into the impact on ivf success and depending on the medication the impact on your baby/toddler (there are some medications which definitelycant be taken when breastfeeding). However I breastfed through my natural pregnancy (miscarriage) and through my very medicated FET. Have stopped now as too sick/tired with early pregnancy. Look at the FB page Breastfeeding mums undergoing IVF. Good luck x

[Solly-44]

My clinic won’t allow this. They said BF raises prolactin levels which can compromise the chances of success. Also as others have said the meds are pretty potent and I imagine this would be a problem. But I get you, it’s a tough choice. We faced it too when wanting to resume treatment x