BF and Birth Control

[@llli*holly25]

My DD is 16 months and still BFing on demand.. 6-8x a day and sometimes for a couple hours during the night (this is new thing).. Anyways, I have dysfunctional uterine bleeding. Is there any birth control that I can get on without drying up my supply. Or maybe keep my supply if I was sure to supplement with Mother's Milk tea etc...? I'm just OVER bleeding all the time for the past 6 months. I am currently on the mini pill... I have had surgery and a D&C and nothing has worked. =/

[@llli*mommal]

There is no hormonal contraception method that you can take that is guaranteed to be safe for milk supply. The mini-pill is the one that is most likely to be okay... But that's not working for you! I think that at 16 months, you can allow yourself to say "Okay, if the combination pill decreases my supply, so be it," because at this point your LO can transition to relying more on solids. And who knows- after months and months of on-demand nursing your supply might be more stable than it was a year ago.

And let's say you start taking a regular combination pill- if all of a sudden your supply is vanishing, you can just stop taking it and it should rebound.

Thought you might be interested in this article on dysfunctional bleeding: http://www.aafp.org/afp/2004/0415/p1915.html

[@llli*holly25]

Would there be any of the combo pills that are better than the others that carry less of a chance of decrease in supply? I am just constantly tired and irritated and I really think that it all has to do with this. Would taking extra milk producing herbs help?

[@llli*mommal]

I think that the pill formulations are all pretty much the same. But definitely talk to your doctor about that one!

The herbs won't hurt, and might help- but if you experience a really big drop, herbs alone are unlikely to restore your supply.

I'm really sorry you're dealing with this. I get cranky if my period lasts an extra day, so I am sure this has to be getting really, really old after so many months!

[@llli*zaynethepain]

I think it's one of those every person reacts differently to medicines things. I've taken two types of pills before. One worked great, I even lost weight because of it. The other type made me a crazy lady with very intense mood swings. There are very slight differences in each brand and it depends on your hormonal makeup whether/how your body will react. Like mommal said check with your doctor and just stop/switch if your supply tanks.

[@llli*emommy706]

Have you considered trying Chinese medicine? I had very heavy and painful periods after my son was born and thy were so draining (I was also on the mini pill) but I started getting acupuncture and took Chinese herbs for a couple weeks and periods completely turned around! Now I am pregnant but before then they became much less painful and heavy. Make sure you take some supplement a for yourself too because its not uncommon to become anemic from very heavy menstrual bleeding!