Contraceptive Pill and milk supply

[pookamoo]

Hello,

My GP has prescribed Marvelon which is a combined pill. At the moment, most of the other contraceptive options are not really suitable for me as I need to regulate my cycle (amongst other things).

However, I am still BFing DD2 who is 2.5 at bedtime and first thing in the morning, and I don't really want to stop this. The GP said that this kind of pill can affect milk supply, but as we're well past the stage where DD relies on my milk as her only source of food, it wasn't too much of a concern.

I have now read the patient information leaflet, and it says words to the effect of "if you take this medication while breastfeeding it could harm your health".

I think I will give the surgery a call and see if I can ask my GP to find out a bit more about this, but thought in the meantime I would call on the combined wisdom of MN.

So:

1. Has anyone taken this kind of pill while bfing, and was there a noticeable effect on milk supply? If it drops, would DD be able to up it herself (presumably longer feeds for a little while?) or will I have to stop taking the pill to sort out the supply?, and

1. WTF "may harm your health" !!! Any clues here at all?!

Thanks in anticipation.

I have never heard that bf and using the combined pill can harm maternal health, and can't understand how it would. Is there a telephone info line in the documentation which you could call?

There is a documented effect on milk supply, but AFAIK the studies have only been done on mothers in the early stages of bf.

I have never heard of it affecting well-established breastfeeding, but it would be good to get people's experiences here.

Thanks Tiktok.

Maybe I'll give it a go, and see what happens. In terms of milk supply, presumably if I just stop taking it, the supply should return to normal.

I'll look for a helpline number - good idea.