breastfeeding and SPD

[Reallytired]

I am still breastfeeding my little girl at 13 months. When I was pregnant I had horrific SPD (Symphis pubis dysfunction). I am considerally better, but things aren't perfect.

If I gave up breastfeeding, would it improve symptoms of SPD? Ideally I would like to feed my daughter until 2 years old.

I also had very bad SPD with my DD, and have it again for my current pg. The 'official' advice which you see everywhere is that BF does not affect SPD recovery in any way. However, in my completely uninformed, non-medical opinion I suspect that actually it does a bit.

Reasons:

1. I had regular follow-up appts with my very good obstetric physiotherapist. At every appt she would ask me 'are you still bf?' and I would say yes. She would then nod and not say anything. In my brain I interpreted this as her being professional and keeping her opinion to herself. She specialises in SPD so I guess she sees a lot of women and how they do / don't recover afterwards.
2. I bf for 7-8 mths, and because of my age wanted to start TTC after 12 mths. The advice from both physio and GP was that in order to give my pelvis the best chance of strengthening in between pgs, I needed to stop bf in time to have at least 3 normal menstrual cycles unaffected by any hormonal influences including bf, which I did.

I did think that I noticed a difference in myself when I stopped. I felt stronger and more active. But (big but) this all coincided with the general recovery path - losing lots of weight, doing regular pilates classes, gradually building up the distance I could walk, etc.

I would never discourage anyone from bf, and I intend to exclusively bf until at least 6 mths with this one too if I can. But my interpretation is that because bf affects your hormone balance, that probably has some effect on SPD recovery. But as I say, this is completely an amateur's opinion, with some shaky reasoning as above.

Whatever you decide to do I hope it works out well for you.

I had problems with it through my pregnancy, then after thinking it was better I overdid it exercising 3 months post partum. I continued to feed until DS was over 2 and it's gradually improved since I aggravated it, and I didn't feel stopping feeding made a difference. I don't honestly think mine will ever go. Having said that, I'm pregnant again and so far it hasn't got any worse - yet! All the advice is that feeding shouldn't make a difference, although like anything I suspect these will be individual variations.

I had very bad SPD in my first pg (crutches/wheelchairs/housebound).

Due to bottlefeeding DD1 for 1st 8 weeks(bfed DD1 for 3.6 years), my periods came back by about 3 months.

I had bad SPD at ovulation and just before my period was due. No pain to speak of at other times.

With my 2nd pg I had only very mild SPD from week 6 onwards but I didn't need anything but a belt.

I am still feeding DD2 at 2.6y/o and my periods came back at 11 months. I had next to no pain until my periods started up.

Luckily I got pg before I had my 3rd period so I only had a bit of pain before getting pg again. That pg I didn't even wear a belt for most of it .

I haven't had a period yet as DD3 is 7 m/o and I have only had one lot SPD pain. That was down to moving something heavy sideways with my foot. Oops!

When I was in post natal ward a maternity assistant tried to persuade me to not bfeed as it would make my SPD worse. I can honestly say it was my fertility coming back that made my SPD flare up. As bfing delays fertility/periods returning I would think it has a protective effect. However this is only my experience and I don't think a sample size of 1 make for a very scientific study!