I also have had two miscarriages while nursing.  However, I also had a
successful pregnancy breastfeeding my first child.  Not one problem at all.
Maybe that helps me to look for other reasons for the miscarriages than brf.
And I have plenty.  Both miscarriages occured right after I got a nasty
stomach flu.  Everyone in the family had it. The first miscarriage occured
when we were under incredible stress, which continued for quite a while.
Then my father died - another very stressful situation.  A month after that
I had an hormonal imbalance - break through bleeding.  My doctor wanted to
assume immediately that it was brf that caused it - I knew better.  Once my
stress was manageable, I noticed that I got break through bleeding only
after eating dairy.  I confirmed this several times, and other causes ruled
out.  When I kept the dairy completely out for 4-5 months, I got pregnant
again (this is now years since my first miscarriage).  I ended up
miscarrying a little earlier.  But this recent miscarriage has me so exicted
- I was worried I was going through early menopause (44 yrs old).  The fact
that I produced an egg, fertilized it, it implanted, etc. even if it didn't
pan out, I now have hope that I can have another baby!

Anyway, back to my point - I think it is easy  to fear breastfeeding as the
cause of bad things.  Even if my brf. is affecting it, there are certainly
other factors involved here, and working on them is a better choice than
weaning.  And if brf isn't the reason, then weaning can be a real loss for
the mother and baby. This point was clearly made when the bleeding started
with my first miscarriage.  Should I wean immediately?  If I had, it would
have done no good, as the untrasound ultimately showed the baby had died two
weeks before. How would I have felt if I weaned immediately?

Women choose to let their children wean naturally, and choose not wean
although they desire to have another child or become pregnant, because they
know that their child, that is here, has a very important need.  My children
were just not ready to wean.  To take this away would have been a real loss,
and would have made my life much harder.

Elizabeth N. Baldwin,  Esq.
Phone:  305-944-9100  Home office:  305-940-7873
Fax:  305-949-9029
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]    or    [log in to unmask]
Attorney specializing in breastfeeding and the law; Leader
Internet Communications of America, Inc.