Dear Philippa,

This is purely anecdotal.  I had similar symptoms after my son was born -
hot flashes, night sweats, extreme vaginal dryness, you name it and I
seemed to have it.  The night sweats were really intense; I slept in front
of the air conditioner lying between beach towels.  Even at 6 months pp I
was still having hot flashes fairly regularly although the night sweats
went away after 3 weeks.  I asked my OB/GYN about it and he said lactating
women range from menstruating right on schedule to "almost menopausal" and
I was on the latter end of the scale.  At 16 months pp (and still nursing
6x/day) I still get occaisional hot flashes that seem to accompany mild
insomnia.  From my doctor's reaction, I am treating it as the way my body
reacts to the hormones of lactation and as normal for my body while
breastfeeding.  He seemed to feel it was nothing out of the ordinary and
that no action needed to be taken.

Unfortunately this falls into the "put up with it, it will pass" category.
Even though it was not pleasant to ride it out, I am not at all sure I
would want to be on hormones while breastfeeding.  While I have no medical
training, the oestrogen patch would make me uncomfortable as to the
possible effects on the baby.  This is just my opinion, but I'd rather ride
it out than deal with hormones while nursing.  Good luck with those moms!
:-)

Linda Volkovitsch ([log in to unmask])
Feeling like a hot flash right now would be nice to counteract the sub-zero
wind chills outside of Philadelphia.