As a follow-up of Alicia Dermer's informative post, I want to share two
case reports.

Several years ago, when I was doing research on induced lactation, two
women participated who had each suffered many years of difficulties with
endometriosis.  Both were nullips at the time of the adoption of the babies
they chose to breastfeed.

In both cases, their long-term (more than 1 year in one case and more than
2 years in the other) of breastfeeding was accompanied by a
near-disappearance of the endometriosis that had plagued them for so many
years.  In one case, the physician caring for the woman said her
breastfeeding was THE reason she was pain and symptom-free for the entire
last year of her breastfeeding and for a period of 1-2 years before she was
able to become pregnant (for the first time) and carry that pregnancy to
term.  She also breastfed the birth baby.  This resulted in a nearly-five
year period of time when she had no symptoms of endometriosis.

In the other case, the MD speculated (according to the mother) that her
breastfeeding experience with the adopted baby was "related" to her
subsequent reduction of symptoms and pain for approx. 1 year past the time
when she breastfed.  (In her case, she enjoyed nearly 2 years of no
endometrial pain.)

I realize that these two cases do not PROVE anything, but they suggested to
me some of what Alicia Dermer described....

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"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly
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Kathleen G. Auerbach,PhD, IBCLC (Ferndale, WA USA) [log in to unmask]
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