Has anyone known they wouldn't be able to BF from the outset?

[roslily]

I BF ds for 5 weeks, and gradually reduced as I was struggling.

I have since been diagnosed with Bipolar and am on Lithium. We would like another child, and I have been told that if I continued with Lithium I wouldn't be able to BF.

I know lots of people FF from the beginning, but I can't get my head round it. I don't want to have to start a baby on formula. Even though I know it hasn't done ds any harm

anyone else been in this situation?

Not personally, but a good friend of mine was also on medication that meant she couldn't bf her 2 dc.

You're on medication to keep you well. If the advice from the professionals is that you'd be better off staying on it, then I guess you must respect their opinions and ff from the start.

Do you know why you feel that you don't want to do that? Would it help to talk it through with you mw?

i haven't, but i used to read the blog of someone who was
afaik she altered her meds and came off the lithium and BF for 6 month

this was with the view that if ANY symptoms started returning she would give up and go straight back on the lithium iirc

I couldnt. I had a breast reduction, so had zero way of breastfeeding. And to add insult to injury, he as premmie and that makes breast milk all the more important. But hey ho, he is now a strong healthy 2 yr old, and is a right little sod, so obviously did him no harm. And I got to delegate the night feeds

My mother could not breastfeed due to breast infection of a super bug variety - I turned out fine.

A friend of mine who is Bi-polar said she felt her hormones actually improved things for her - made her feel a lot more balanced for about a year after the birth. So she was confident without her meds. That's her but worth getting a few opinions from docs I guess.

I didn't find out i couldn't bf until 4 weeks before ds was born, because of the meds i'm on. I wish my doc told me at the beginning!

Worth talking to your MW about using donor milk when the time comes?
Or (I know nothing about bipolar, sorry) but are you on it for the indefinite future?

Talk to your consultant nearer the time and also research it using the appropriate agencies. More important to be in good health imo.
I do understand how you feel tho. I fed my first 3 but not for long or massively successfully. I had breast cancer and double mastectomy between them and dd 8 so knew I couldn't feed her. I am pg again due Jan and again can't feed. I just accepted it wasn't my fault and looked at the positives eg dh can help at night nice for siblings to do some feeds.no sore nipples.baby sleeps longer. placed lots of emphasis on good bonding in other ways. I feed skin to skin as much as possible. dd is healthy and never gets ill and is perfect size for age and very active! Good luck.

I'm normally on medication for my Fibro. I came off it to get pregnant this time as it may have been a factor in my MCs, but have been slowly getting worse again without it (luckily still doing okay if not brilliant). I've always known I wouldn't be able to bf on it as it dries up milk, so when I have to go back on it after baby arrives, it'll mean the end of bfing.

What I've done is research alternatives that can be used when bfing, even if they're not as effective.

I'm now planning on trying to bf as long as possible using the alternative meds and to try and start expressing as soon as possible to try and build up a frozen stash. That way, if I do have to go back on the meds before I would've otherwise given up bfing, I'm hoping to continue feeding breastmilk for a bit longer.

I think that if you can discuss with your doctors the possibility of coming off the meds, on the basis of trying alternatives if possible, but going back on what you know works if you need to, then you have more options. After all, even if you only feed colostrum (so for not much more than 1 week) it's good for baby.

There are other views about lithium and breastfeeding. It's by no means clear-cut that you 'can't' ever bf with it.

ttp:toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/htmlgen?LACT explains what is known about this, and it would be worth discussing the results of a search with your doctors.

Thanks for the advice. I have thought about coming off it, but part of me feels that I have felt well for the first time in ages.

I will read that tiktok