I was wondering if anyone has any experieince with adoptive moms using
depo provera.  It speaks of it in the New Guinea study, but says nothing
about the long-term effects, which is what I need to know about.  The
only case-study I have right now is myself, and I have no idea if it is
at all applicable to anyone else.

I got the shot when Joanna was 8 months old.  I did it mainly to see if
I could avoid some of the cyclical effects on my fibromyalgia, but was
also curious to see what  it would do to my milk supply.

I did not cycle for six months.  During that time, I felt that my milk
production was a little better, although it is real hard to tell with a
baby who is also eating solid food and drinking juice.

By thirteen months or so, Joanna started climbing up to nurse without
the Lact-Aid.  It was more handy for her because she could just nurse
anytime and not have to wait for me to get up and get a Lact-Aid.  She
was not getting a large amount of milk, but was at least getting enough
that she would be satisfied with nursing in the middle of the night.

I decided to let the depo wear off because I'd had such awful
side-effects for the first six weeks after I took it and was afraid I'd
have to go through that again.  However, I now wish I would have gotten
another shot.  Once I started cycling again, my milk dried up and Joanna
started losing interest in nursing.  I managed to keep her nursing once
in a while until 20 mos. but it has now been over a month since she's
nursed.  I tried to get her back to using the Lact-Aid, but she wouldn't
accept it.

Anyway, I am wondering what to tell other other adoptive mothers.  I
suspect that the depo may be useful because it would avoid the peaks and
valleys in milk production that occur with cycles.  I won't actually
council anyone to use it, but there may be some who will have heard
about it and want to try it.  If my experience is at all common,
however, I think it would be best for anyone who decided to use it to
stay on it the whole time they were nursing.

Anyway, if anyone is aware of any other women's experieinces with this,
I would appreciate hearing from you.

Aloha,
Darillyn