Experience with hyperemesis in first pregnancy helped by BFing in second pregnancy?

[organiccarrotcake]

I don't imagine there's any actual research into this but if there is - brilliant! But, anecdotal experiences would be very useful.

Have you yourself, or have you supported someone who has had hyperemesis in one pregnancy, then gone on to have another pregnancy while breastfeeding?

If so, was the second pregnancy any different (from a HG point of view)?

I'm just thinking that as BFing can reduce "normal" morning sickness, can it affect HG?

watching with interest

I had a HG pregnancy and will hopefully get pg while still BFing (as i dont plan to stop unless dd self weans) and if it could help then id love to know

I was somewhere on the border between severe morning sickness and hyperemesis with DS (severe nausea, threw up until 32 weeks, had cyclizine, but didn't lose lots of weight or need hospitalisation). My GP signed me off work as HG, but I felt weird about it because i knew others had it worse!

Anyway, I am pregnant again (12 weeks) and DS is still BFing aged 2.4. This pregnancy has been so different. I've only thrown up twice, and once was a tummy bug. I had nausea and food aversion, but nothing like as bad. MS already starting to fade.

I don't know if it's due to the breastfeeding or not, I'm just grateful not to be stuck at home with my head in the toilet/bin!

Gosh, don't feel bad! Sure some people have it worse but some people have it better, too.... I just felt nauseous with DS2 and that was bad enough.

Thanks for your story :)

I would love to hear from people with ANY experience BTW, just to get a feel for whether there might be an effect.

Like nannyl I'll be watching this with interest too, for future reference.

I had very severe morning sickness (not HG though) throughout my pregnancy with DD1 (lost weight but never prescribed anything, had burst blood vessels in my face from puking so much) but was only sick once or twice with DD2. I have read that BF is meant to help, it may have done in my case or it may have been a coincidence- who knows!

I had hyperemesis with both and breastfed through the second pregnancy and don't think it helped. I was sick each and every day of both pregnancies right until I gave birth) but with the second I left the hospital in size 8 jeans (the silver lining to constant sickness) and I think on balance I was sicker in the second pregnancy

That said, I coped ok with the sickness and never needed treatment, in my case it was sickness every day, not after every meal. Nausea on and off but mainly sparked by eating a little more than I could handle.

I didn't have HG but had severe food/drink aversions and a fair bit of puking in my first pg. For about 3m I could only drink Ribena from 1L cartons and then almost overnight I could only drink Fanta Orange (preferably in 2L bottles but it wasn't as specific as the Ribena!). The pg was tough in most other ways - had bleeding at 5 wks and in excruciating pain from 8 wks and then a 4 day induction!

With DD2's pg I just had nausea until month 7 but only threw up once or twice (was bfing DD1). No real food/drink aversions but I did like Krispy Kremes a bit too much.

With DD3's pg I barely knew I was pg (I would often get asked about pg and I would have forgotten I was pg I was so unaware of it). Very little nausea except in the first few weeks really. I paid for it though with having a 3 week pro-dromal labour . (was bfing DD1 & DD2 until 8m then just DD2 until DD3 was born).

3 weeks

I can't believe anyone who has had hypremesis was able to contemplate another pregnancy so soon. I thought I was brave having three pregnancies but I needed a gap between them as I am so ill I can not do anything, I can't even wash my hair by myself when it is really bad so would have been totally useless to a bf baby. In fact I think that would have finished me off. And while you say bf may reduce the sickness/nausea I would have been petrified if it didn't.

No - I'm not saying it may reduce the sickness :) I'm just wondering if it might - just a theory I thought I'd ask about.

It was a thought that came to mind today in a BFing group and I wondered if a mum was going to consider a 2nd pregnancy relatively close to her last HG pregnancy, might it be worth her considering trying to BF longer than she might otherwise have done in order to see if it helped reduce the symptoms. Obviously this would have to fit into the rest of her life plans (!) but it just struck me that as BFing can reduce "normal" MS, might it help HG.

I can't imagine that there are any formal studies into this, and I don't know enough about what triggers HG compared to what triggers MS, and therefore even if there is a relation, but I thought it was interesting enough to get some thoughts from you ladies about it.

I have to say that I agree that you were very brave to have 3 pregnancies - having had a close friend with HG it is something I can't imagine dealing with as well as other children - or twice in one's life by choice :( :(

The problem is there is very little research on hypremesis, indeed it can be hard to persuade some doctors it is even a serious problem. There is a doctor at St Thomas's who was doing some sort of research in this area quite recently, but I don't know what her findings were if any

Yes, went in to labour 21st September and DD3 was born 11th October. A lovely time as I had 3 hours of contractions each day at up to every 3 mins - that did NOTHING - apart from take my breath away.

It was fun though going to a friend's baby's 1st birthday party leaning on another friend rocking as yet another contraction hit - all the guests thought I was going to have the baby there in the garden!

Checking in with interest. I had HG in both PG (not bf'ing during pg) but am BFing now. DS is 15months and will be BFing for a while (cows milk allergy). I feel I can't imagine doing it a third time...but if BFing would reduce it???????

Anyone know if the meds used in HG are safe to use while BFing?

Pocksrule i know what you mean.

If i have HG again to the same level (where i could barely get out of bed except the 3 foot steps to my en-suite loo) then i have accepted i will just have to have a temp nanny.

I was in hospital, and quite simply i know there is no way, if i was as poorly as i was in the first trimester , i could look after DD.

However i dont want her to be an only child, i really want a small-ish age gap (which has increased since having an HG pregnancy), and if i am poorly will just have to let OH and MIL look after us, which i know they will.

scaryjane, im pretty sure you cant take HG meds while BF-ing hence me waiting until at least 6m before i even think about trying again, so if i really cant, she will have still been EBF for the 1st 6+ months

just found this - useful!

hg meds in bf

Oooh very interesting, thank you! It seems that the potential risks listed are in infants whereas it's more likely that a mum would be BFing an older baby or toddler in the case of a subsequent pregnancy. I will talk to the BfN drugs line about this I think. I'd expect, generally, though, that drugs would affect the foetus more than the nursling? Although (thinking aloud here) I suppose chemicals which cross the placenta may not cross into milk and vice versa.

Pocksrule - Yeah, I can see their point that it's not such an issue, just women being a bit fussy. . Gracious... and childbirth smarts a bit and a broken leg should be ignored as other people have worse problems. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try to find that research.

truthsweet youch. That must have smarted. :(

Pocksrule, my sickness in the first pregnancy nearly caused us not to have another child. We seriously contemplated just having one and eventually decided we wanted another badly enough to risk it. Two years and a bit were just long enough to have the memory start to fade, and even then DH and I were both terrified at the start of this pregnancy, just waiting to see if it would happen again!

If I wasn't already 35 with PCOS, we might have even waited longer, so DS would be even more independent.

I didn't suffer morning sickness at all with DD (my DC1). But I fed DD for the first 18 weeks of my second pregnancy, and had quite bad morning sickness. Not HG but I was on tablets from the doctor and had ketones in my urine and lost half a stone, which is quite a lot of weight for me.

Of course, I might have felt worse if I hadn't been feeding DD, but my feeling is that breast feeding her didn't aleviate my sickness, and in fact it wasn't uncommon for me to have to stop a feed to run to the bathroom to throw up.

I think the 'adventures in tandem nursing' lll book says there is some anecdotal evidence that BFing improves morning sickness, but nothing has been proved.

scaryjane sorry I missed your question about the meds. I was on buccastem (I think it was called). The doctor was quite wooly about it being fine to take while feeding, so I emailed the pharmacist at breast feeding network. She was really helpful. At the time my DD was about 15,16 months old (can't remember exactly!) and they were happy for me to take the meds while feeding her. Comment was made that if I was feeding a younger baby they would have been more cautious as it can make the baby sleepy.

DD certainly didn't seem any more sleepy!! (I wish...)

Wouldn't contemplate another pg AT ALL if I couldn't take any meds, so that's interesting, could take meds and bf.........
All food for thought for me.
Still have to convince DH though, he is adamant "never again". Such a lot fell to him. Shit for mums, but shit for partners too, HG.

Shit all round, quite :(

I'm not sure how much, if any, research has been done into how BFing affects normal MS or whether it's just anecdotal. It would all be an interesting study though.

And it needs to be a proper study, ultimately, because the %s need to be checked properly. Still interesting though and perhaps worth a mum who is BFing carrying on longer if she wanted a pregnancy. On the downside, if it didn't help and she was having to deal with HG and weaning because the HG was making BFing too tough, that would possibly be hard...