Uh, here we go again.  Can anyone find any evidence that breastfeeding
during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage?  This is just one of
those things we were told in medical school, without any backup.  Please
ask the physicians to provide evidence that this is a real concern.

For a while back, whenever I spoke to obstetricians about breastfeeding,
I would ask if they thought they could provoke labour in the first
trimester by putting up an infusion of oxytocin.  Their answers were
universally negative--no, probably can't be done.  Yet some of these
same people, probably, are still telling mothers of an increased risk of
miscarriage due to the tiny rises of oxytocin in their blood associated
with milk ejection.

The rate of miscarriage is quite common, up to 15-20% of all
pregnancies.  To prove an effect of breastfeeding you would need to
follow thousands of pregnancies--never been done.

Reassure the mothers that they do *not* have to wean.  Let them know in
advance that if they do have a miscarriage, it is not because they did
not wean, but because this happens.

Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC