I have a client who presented me with an interesting question the other day.
 She is currently 4 months pregnant and has a hx of anexoria/bulemia. She was
able to breastfeed her first child (now age 18 months) for six months, not as
long as she would have liked, for 2 reasons: she felt her feeding schedule
was becoming "out of wack" from her excessive binging and purging, and that
this was effecting her baby, and; she swears that she felt her bones being
"gnawed away"  the longer she continued to nurse.

This woman had her bone density checked 6 months after nursing ceased, and
she was told that the density levels are severely deficient.

Well, she is pregnant again, and is wondering if she should nurse this next
child.  Is there some reason why breastfeeding caused her bone density to
become so terrible? I believe that most studies show that bone density
decreases during lactation, but should be back to normal levels 6 months
after lactation ceases (from Lawrence).  Has anybody heard of this?
 Suggestions welcome!  I really like this woman - and she really wants to
breastfeed her next child.

Brenda Phipps, BS, IBCLC