Carol Chamblin wrote:
"I have a mom who's just weaned her 9 month old and did 1 month's worth of
birth control pills.  She has a history of migraines while taking birth control
pills.  We were discussing whether her recent onset of migraines is correlated
with weaning or with the birth control pills.  She thinks it may be the birth
control pills and may not start the next month's pills.  She's already doing
diet modifications and taking primrose without relief.

"I saw one account on Lactnet archives of someone with the experience of more
migraines during the weaning process.  Any other thoughts?"

Hi Carol,
    I have some questions.  Had this mother resumed her menstrual cycles before weaning?  Did she have some cycles before completing weaning, and were there any migraines then?  If there were already occasional migraines, were they acerbated after completion of weaning?  More frequent?  More intense?  As you know, there is a lot of individual variation in the process of return of fertility during lactation, and headache history may also be individual - though delaying menstruation can generally be considered helpful in delaying menstrual migraines.  (Exceptions are always possible.)  The contraceptive pills, however, do seem to be a factor.  A MEDLINE search may find you some information on this.
   For women with a history of menstrual migraines, continuing exclusive breastfeeding for an appropriate duration, and only slowly weaning, may give blessed relief that they wouldn't have if they fully artificially fed, or used restricted, non-exclusive breastfeeding. Possible effects of hormonal pills should be raised at the same time.  Although this doesn't answer Carol's question for the mother who has already weaned, I think this reminds us all that good information of this nature pre- or post-natally can help mothers make a truly informed choice. Providing backup of the decision to breastfeed then makes sense - for these as for any mother - e.g. making them aware of support in the community for BF mothers, such as LLLI, ABA, and other mother-support groups or other telephone warmlines.
   Virginia
   in Brisbane

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