PGP/SPD and breastfeeding

[BumbleBee7891]

I have a DD who has just turned 18 months. I got pelvic girdle pain (some call it SPD) when I was 16 weeks pregnant and it got worse and worse until I was on crutches at 35 weeks. It got better after birth but not gone away. Anything more than a 30 min walk, leaves me in pain for a day or so. I'm trying to get fit but I am very restricted in what I can do. I was very fit pre-pregnancy so this is frustrating.

I've done a lot of physio and seen and osteopath but it's not helping long term. It gives me relief for a few hours but that's it. GP is telling me to stop breastfeeding in case that helps. I really don't want to, especially as there seems to be a good chance it won't help. I only BF morning, afternoon and evening but it's just so bloody useful (and nice to connect after a day of work).

So, anyone with PGP stopped breastfeeding and it actually helped?

If I knew it will definitely help that would probably change my mind.

Posting in AIBU for traffic really as I don't think many women still find themselves with such long term PGP.

How would stopping breastfeeding actually help ?
I think breastfeeding just gets blamed for everything basically. And I definitely would not stop if you don’t want to.
are you a member of the FB group “breastfeeding older babies and beyond” ? Lots of support and knowledge on there you could ask if anyone has personal experience of PGP.

@Abd80

GP is adamant that BF has an effect on the relaxin hormones sticking around and continuing to cause PGP.

Google tells me that's outdated advice but I left the appointment feeling like a naughty child. So wanted to ask for some experiences as I'm quite fed up.

Long walks, hiking, skiing and running were a big part of my life and it's really affected me mentally not even being able to go for a walk with my baby.

I believe recent thinking is that breastfeeding doesn’t worsen or prolong pgp. In fact it can be helpful.

So the logic here is that the relaxin hormone, produced during pregnancy to ‘relax’ our muscles and tendons so our pelvis can stretch to get baby out (very simply explanation) takes about 9 months to clear after birth, but if you’re breastfeeding you keep producing it. This can mean women injure themselves more easily.

It’s possible it may help to stop OP but I don’t think it’s guaranteed. The issue with extended breastfeeding is professionals love to blame things on the breastfeeding because its so rare here and we just don’t have any real data on sooo many things

I don't think NHS professionals tend to be very knowledgeable on this. Have you seen this website? https://pelvicpartnership.org.uk/ treatment should be helping- is your osteopath listed on the the website? I would go to someone they recommend

Most of research articles say that as long as your breast feeding your producing relaxin (loosens all ligaments etc), the big but is that you don't know if this is making spd harder to recover from or not.

I suppose if you have tried everything else then its the last option.

I had PGP and what helped was effective treatment before and after birth from a physio listed on the pelvic partnership website. I breastfed for a long time and I don't think it was a factor in my recovery as I was able to be pretty active within a few months of birth.

Yes I had this with my last son and gave up breastfeeding and it did improve. I was just less bendy and it did grieve me to do it but not being able to walk and push a pushchair was grim.

@Bigwelshlamb how old was the baby?

I had PGP very badly, on crutches at end of pregnancy. It was agony. It went away when baby was born, then came back when baby was about 6 months old, I had some physio which did help a little but going up and down stairs for example was still agony. I stopped breastfeeding, and the pain stopped almost immediately.
Sorry OP - I realise this is not what you want to hear. I was (almost) ready to give up breastfeeding at that point, which helped.