Hilary,  I can speak of the calcium only without doing some additional 
research.  I just answered this question regarding  calcium from one of 
our mom's a couple of weeks ago.  Her Dr. wanted her to significantly 
increase her calcium intake with additional supplements due to some 
medications that she was taking for her asthma.   What I found was that 
extra calcium should be fine for a breastfeeding mom.  Please see below 
for the response that I sent to her:
Just for information...When a woman is breastfeeding, the calcium intake 
by the mother is not closely related to the amount of calcium in her 
milk.  Women actually lose some bone density during lactation and 
therefore the daily requirements of calcium while lactating is 1200mg.  
(about 400mg over non-pregnant and non-lactating women).  Increasing the 
amount of calcium that you take in over and above the 1200mg per day 
will not prevent bone loss during lactation, but much of what is lost 
during lactation will be recovered after weaning.

    Increasing your calcium intake will not hurt Maggie.  The body has a
    great system for regulating calcium in the blood.  When the calcium
    level is low, calcium is released from the bone to raise the blood
    level.  If calcium levels in the blood are high, the calcium will
    enter the bone and any excess will be excreted through the kidneys. 
    There can be problems with excess calcium intake.....but you would
    be the one that suffers the possible side effects, not Maggie   You
    would have to take in over 2500 - 2900mg / day to see any type of
    side effects.  With excessive calcium intake you may see  things
    like constipation, irritability, and kidney problems.  It would be
    very difficult to reach that level of intake.

    Also, just one more piece of "calcium trivia", drinking beverages
    with caffeine or carbonation, will decrease calcium as
    well......thus causing your body to draw calcium from your bones! 
    Soooooo, taking the extra citracal is a great idea!

Susan, CPNP



Hilary Myers wrote:

> A mother with coeliac disease is breastfeeding her week-old baby very
> successfully.
> She has been taking ferrous sulphate, folic acid and calcium supplements
> throughout her pregnancy and wishes to know whether she should 
> continue with
> these during breastfeeding. Her Hb is being checked tomorrow. I 
> thought she
> would probably need to continue the calcium but would appreciate input 
> form
> someone who has experience in this field. Had a quick look in the 
> archives
> but only found stuff about babies with coeliac.
> Many thank
> Hilary Myers
> Somerset, England
>
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