Dear colleagues:

A search of the La Leche League International's Center for Breastfeeding Information database (http://www.lalecheleague.org/cbi/cbi.html) yielded no citations for studies obviously addressing the issue of ectopic pregnancy and breastfeeding. PubMed yielded one abstract of a study that merely mentioned that 2 of 207 cases of ectopic pregnancy treated in a tertiary teaching hospital over four years occurred in women who were breastfeeding. The abstract did not mention breastfeeding as a risk factor for ectopic pregnancy. The citation for the study is: Wong, E. and Suat, S.O. Ectopic pregnancy: A diagnostic challenge in the emergency department. Eur J Emerg Med 2000; 7(3):189-94. url: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11142270&dopt=Abstract

Jenny South wrote that a reproductive endocrinologist told her client that: "Breast feeding does alter your hormones. Tubal motility is affected by alterations in hormonal status---if your periods are delayed, lite, or absent than most certainly your hormonal status is affected by your breast feeding...if they are entirely normal menstrual cycles then the effect of breast feeding is likely nominal."

It would be appropriate to ask this physician if he/she can provide studies demonstrating that breastfeeding is a risk factor for ectopic pregnancy. My two searches, admittedly limited, found no such studies. Whether a theoretical or actual risk exists is important to informed decision making. Furthermore, it makes evolutionary sense that breastfeeding would alter a woman's hormonal milieu in a manner that extends a period of infertility thus protecting the survival of her nursling. However, ectopic pregnancy is a life-threatening condition. It does not make evolutionary sense that the hormonal milieu of breastfeeding would have developed in a way that increases a mother's risk of dying thus reducing the likelihood of her nursling's survival. 

I am still nomail. So if you'd like to be sure I read a reply to this post, please also email me directly at [log in to unmask] 

Warmly,

Cynthia

Cynthia Good Mojab
Ammawell
Email: [log in to unmask] 
Web site: http://home.attbi.com/~ammawell 

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