A few months ago, there was a lot of discussion in regards to taking birth
control medication. I thought there might be interest in the following two
experiences with this type of medication.

Last month, two nursing woman who were taking birth control pills contacted
me. One was taking microgynon for medical treatment for a period of 6 weeks
and one was taking fenulen, so far for 3 weeks, as a chosen form of birth
control. Both woman were told that it was safe to nurse with these
medications and that both medications were very mild. The woman taking
microgynon learned that the medication might reduce her milk and might
change the protein in her milk and that she should watch the weight of her
baby. The woman taking fenulen learned from her doctor that many women had
no problem with nursing and using this form of birth control. Both woman
had nursed a number of children prior to this, each one for a year or more.

Both woman contacted me because they felt they no longer had the same
amount of milk and changes had occured.

In the case of the woman taking microgynon for 6 weeks, her baby had
stopped gaining weight. The baby was totally breastfed. The baby was 7
months old. It was quite possible that this lack of weight gain was due to
two other events that occured at that time, however, the mother was quite
worried for she had been seeing a reducation of weight gain and was worried
that perhaps the pills were playing a role in this. The nurse who was
weighing the baby also shared this worry.

The baby of the woman taking fenulen was continuing to gain OK. Her baby
was 3 months old at the time she contacted me. She was worried, because she
just did not feel like she had enough milk. And she had this sense that if
she did not nurse like crazy, her baby would not gain well.

The woman taking microgynon could only stop till the time of treatment was
up. In her case, 36 hours after she stopped, she noticed nursing events
return that had disappeared during the time that she was on the medication,
i.e. spontaneous let downs, leaking out the second breast, engorgement when
she forgot to nurse from one side, fullness in the morning. She noticed
them because when they happened for the first time, she realized that they
had been gone for 6 weeks.

The woman taking fenulen was able to stop immediately. She did not feel a
return of leaking, spontaneous let downs, engorgement, etc. for a week and
a half. She also noticed that her mood during the period of time that
she took the medicine and for a week and a half after was not that of a
"calm nursing mother". She hung in and nursed away, trying to get her body
functioning like it had prior to the medication because of her overwhelming
drive to overcome this medication. She felt that had she not nursed any
other child, she simply would have given up after a few days feeling that
she had lost her ability to produce sufficient milk and would have started
to give bottles. We kept in touch till all was well. She was delighted to
be her old leaky nursing self again and was going to use some other form of
birth control.

Devorah from Israel
LLL Leader, APL