Seeking Breastfeeding and Birthcontrol Help!!

I had supply issues with the mini-pill too... (I'm assuming Nortrel is along the same lines...) I just stopped using the pill, and started using condoms instead.

I have been breastfeeding exclusivly for 8 months now, tho I have never struggled with my milk supply I have heard that barley can help to up your supply. Also Fenugreek, most drugstores carry it in a suppliment (pill) form. As far as birth control, I had the IUD Paragaurd inplanted about 4 months ago. I opted for this form of birth control bc it is completely hormone free and I dont plan on having another baby for at least a few years. I'm a strong believer in not putting any medications or hormones into my body until it is completely needed, so my relief to find this option was satisfying. It is inserted right at your OB's office and took about 3 slightly uncomfortable minutes. There was a myth that it can be felt during sex, but my husband has had zero complaints! Ask your doctor for more info, hope this helped!

Medications and Mother's Milk Drug Reference Guide says not to take Nortel... and many other contraception that include any hormone other than progesterone. It alters the body's hormonal shift that is required to keep milk production at top levels.

Acceptable ones listed are (non hormone) IUD, Depo-provera, Nor-QD, Micronor, Implanon.

I was able to have a very long term successful breastfeeding relationship with my child while on Depo.

Milk supply is regulated by prolactin. The more prolactin present, the more milk you will produce. Nursing women tend to have low amounts of estrogen because the more estrogen you have, the less prolactin you produce and vice versa, the less estrogen you have, the more prolactin you will produce. Birth control trumps our bodies' natural system of lowering levels of estrogen while breastfeeding - thereby decreasing the amount of prolactin and milk present.

Many women do not ovulate (and hence cannot get pregnant) if they are nursing regularly around the clock. The La Leche League calls this "natural child spacing". However, no doctor will tell you to rely on this method because there are many women who still get pregnant while nursing. I fall under the first category and have not ovulated in the 1.5 years that I have been nursing regularly.

Stop the birth control ASAP! Some women can successfully breastfeed and take BC but for many moms it will dry them up. Stop using the BC and nurse, nurse, nurse that baby! You can come back from this just don't give up!

WARNING you CAN get pregnant while breast feeding I have breast fed all 3 of my kids strictly and regularly and have gotten my period regularly starting at or by 3 months.

I have a friend that every time she took birth control while BF she dried up by 6 months. If you want to continue breastfeeding, stop the pill and find another form of BC (non Hormonal) If you want to have BC and switch to formula then keep doing what you are doing and supplement formula.

When I went back on birth control pills while breastfeeding, I was given a prescription for a "mini-pill", which does not contain estrogen. Pills that contain estrogen can reduce your milk supply. Is your Nortel a combination pill? If so then I would call you doctor and request a different pill, ASAP.

I exclusively breastfed for a year while using Mirena IUD. It is low hormone I had no supply problems.
Have you tried mothers milk tea?

There are herbs you can take to help breast milk production. Talk to someone at your local health food store. You should also be able to look it up online. There is a book called PRESCRIPTION FOR NATURAL HEALING by Balch. That book has about every natural remedy for just about anything you can think of INCLUDING alot of ones you probably didn't think were nutrition related.

My OB explicitly told me that if I went on the pill or the mini-pill, I might have milk-supply problems. I'm afraid my advice, if you want to continue nursing, is to find another form of (preferably hormone-free) birth control for now. Good options are condoms + spermicide, or the copper IUD, Paraguard.