Dear Lactnetters:

This is not truly a BF issue, but since so many of you deal with
pregnancy related issues, I wanted to share this post, with permission
from its author.  I also had cholestasis of pregnancy with my first child
(a boy, however), and with my second child I prevented it through a very
low-fat diet. Cholesterol lowering drugs can also be given. If any of you
have encountered this professionally or personally, I would appreciate a
private e-mail.

>This mom has had 4 children, 3 girls and 1 boy.  With all the girls she has had> unbearable itching all over her body that begins in the last
trimester.
> >From a search on the Internet she has learned that it has a name:
> Cholestasis.  It seems to be pretty rare and according to a Finnish (?) Dr.> it affects mostly Scandinavians or Chileans.  They believe it is
caused by> the estrogen a baby girl produces.  One woman she read about
has lost 2> babies from it. They were stillborn. It evidently causes
distress in the> babies and they need to be delivered early - she said by
the 37th week at> the earliest.  Carol believes she was lucky because 2
of her 3 girls were> early anyway.  But, until now, she didn't even
realize the babies were at> risk.  Her OB only prescribed tons of
antihistamines which didn't help her> at all.  He thought it was all in
her head anyway.
>

Needless to say, I'm now alarmed about the apparent risks to the baby in
utero, as I was told it didn't affect the baby.

TIA,

Anna Swisher
LLL Leader
Austin, TX