link between pelvic pain and breastfeeding?

[shuffle]

Have suffered awful pelvic pain throughout this pregnancy. Went to see physio last week and she said that the pain is likely to continue if I bf. Said this was due to chemicals released while bf that stop the bones hardening. Anyone experience this?
Dont think i will manage if this is the case

I don't know about the science bit - so anecdote warning coming up. I had SPD in pregnancy and difficult forceps birth (including stirrups - ouch). SPD didn't disappear immediately after the birth but was much improved by 2 weeks and significantly better by 6 weeks. I bf-ed and still do now (12 mo on). I do also have hypermobility (and did before pregancy) and I have suffered more with this over the last 6 mo. But I've got no idea about the cause. I don't think it's BFing but can't be sure, obviously.

I had a lot of pelvic pain through pregnancy but - even though your pelvis is still soft after birth - because you are so much smaller (i.e. not pregnant and therefore heavy) it all seemed to be ok afterwards (I breastfed both my girls).

My youngest is now 2 and - although I haven't BF fed for over a year - I still have a bit of pain at night.

I wouldn't let the physio put you off BFing...BF does give you a chance to sit down!

I am still suffering (but slowly recovering) from spd/pgp 9 months on, and don't think bfing is affecting mine - except for helping me lose excess weight. (I had a few pain-free weeks over the summer, was still excl bfing.) And my spd-expert osteopath thinks the role of relaxin (the hormone your physio's talking about) is v minor compared to the skeletal/muscle issues.

Have you contacted Pelvic Partnership? My nhs physio just wasn't skilled enough - PP can give you a list of physios/chiropracters/osteos recommended by former sufferers.

You have my deep sympathy. SPD's been the toughest thing I've ever been through. I have found bfing's helped me: I can't carry my baby and have at times been unable to lift or even hold him while sitting down, for the first month of his life I couldn't change or dress him, so bfing ('biological' bfing at first as I couldn't lie on my side for 6 weeks) was something I could do.

I hope you feel better soon.

Thank you so much for your replies. Think I need to find out more. Been focusing on the birth being the end of the pain and am scared that its not.

Take a look at this - very useful website for SPD/PGP generally, but this page says there is no longer thought to be a link between pelvic pain and breastfeeding. When I had DS a couple of years ago, my physio warned that the SPD was likely to be prolonged by bf, but it actually got a lot better as soon as I'd had the baby (I bf for 17mo in the end). The pain didn't disappear altogether, but you should continue to get some attention from your physio for a while after the birth, which should help.
I'd agree that finding a good position to feed in is absolutely key.
Am due to have DC2 in a couple of weeks, SPD is even worse second time around! But still intending to bf.

I had really bad SPD in my first pg (2 x belts, crutches, housebound then needed a wheelchair to attend hospital appointments). I had a induction that ended up in stirrups with ventouse delivery.
I was told by a maternity assistant () not to bfeed as it would make the SPD worse. I didn't listen and I carried my crutches out of the hospital and left them in the back of the car until I had to return them!
I had problems with bfeeding jaundiced DD1 so ended up ffeeding for 8 weeks before getting her back to bfeeding. So my periods returned really early at 6 weeks and with each period I had SPD pain.
With DD2 I had minimal SPD pain (wore a belt from about 6 weeks) and bfeeding went really well so periods didn't return until 11 months and then the SPD didn't occur with each period (got pg with DD3 on my 3rd PP cycle ).
The SPD has been almost non existant in this pg to the extent I haven't even worn a support belt for 99% of the time.
DD1 just weaned at 3.5 years, DD2 is still going at 22 months and I fully intend to bfeed this baby!
I hope your SPD clears up as quickly as mine did and don't forget SPD can get worse around ovulation and menstration so as bfeeding can delay the start of your periods after birth it gives you a great reason to start bfeeding (and hopefully carry on as long as you want to).

The site that watergreen linked to (no evidence that bf-ing will slow down recovery but get comfortable) sounds sensible and seems to be borne out by anecdotal evidence on this thread.

Herbietea I remember reading your story on an SPD thread I started ages ago. Someone else on there recommended Quentin Shaw in Tunbridge Wells. I don't know if it's feasible for you to get there but if you can, consider it.

Sorry if you're sick of unasked-for advice. It's awful that you're still suffering so badly.

(And whoever recommended Quentin, I did search for the thread but couldn't find it, I hope you're reading this - thank you, so much.)

Oh God, Herbietea, I'm so sorry.

I'd been discharged by an osteopath and a physio who both thought there was nothing further to be done for me and am so grateful they were wrong. I hoped the same would be true for you.

I don't think anyone would get sick of your story, I bet you're sick of the whole thing though. I hope the treatment that's planned will ease things for you.