Hairloss when you stop breastfeeding? Any experience? Please help.

[soontobeacoot]

OK stopped bfing dd in June, having cut back loads since Easter. Hair has been thinning for 4/5 mths now. Hairdresser tells me it shows normal growth (lots of little ones). Doctor has checked thyroid etc and tells me it is post baby ?!

I am terrified I am going to go bald. I know it is vain but my hair has been my signature iyswim and I feel like my identity is going down the drain (literally)

Hi SoonToBe.

My hairdresser (who I trust implicitly) and various others told me that your hair naturally thickens up quite a lot whilst you're pregnant so the hair that you lose when you stop breastfeeding is only the hair that you gained whilst you were pregnant due to the hormone surges.

I was distraught when I started to lose huge clumps of hair but one year on from stopping breastfeeding my hair definitely isn't any thinner than it was pre-pregnancy - so I guess she was right....

HTH

WBAYM x

Thanks YummyMummy (I'm sure you are!)

I forgot to add that dd will be 2 in November. I had the normal postpartum loss when dd was 4-6mths .

I stopped bf in june too and Have the same problem though mainly by my temples and down to my ears - when I wear my hair in a pony I can see my scalp gapping through the gaps it looks really bad and is very upsetting as my hair has always been my best feature.
I asked many dr.s ( i work with them) plus my gp if it is related to giving up bf we fed for 2 years but they have all said no. I had bloods done but nothing abnormal found - I am preg again so I'm hoping that will halt it but I really don't know.
How long did you bf for? Is the hair loss general or particulary bad in places?

Soontobeacoot - I also had the normal post partum loss at 4-6 months, so I was shocked when half of my hair fell out when I stopped bfing at 18 months.

It fell out over about 2 months, in fact, it only stopped falling out when I became pregnant again (unfortunately I lost that pregnancy).

The good news is that it does immediately grow back, and although I had to have my hair cut from being very long to shoulder length, it has totally grown back within 4-6 months.

of course it's related to stopping bfing. But it does even out eventually, and grow back. I also had bald patches around my temples, the hair there has grown back now and has grown back very nicely (no stubble)

I had very little hair loss in the four years that I was pregnant or bfing (or both), so I supppose it has to come out at some point!

It is very distressing at the time.

Guess I will have to get pg again then!! Seems quite drastic. Sorry to hear your news belgo.

Hair thinning is general kind of all over, supperwoman. I bf full time till dd started on solids (6mths ish) and cut down to twice a day when she was 8mths then to once a day when she was around 14mths old. We stopped the bed time feed when she was 17mths but she still had the odd feed (about twice a week) till she was 19.5mths. I had milk for another 3 weeks or so though.

I had 3 inches cut off today and hairdresser said there are lots of shorter hairs. I haven't got any bald patches but was so shocked to see how thin it was when she combed it out. It was sooo thin. It feels like it has been going on for ages too. I felt awful when she told me her sister only has half an inch of hair after undergoing chemo... how vain am I?

Thanks for your support. This is really getting me down.

it's good news that the hairdresser says there are lots of shorter hairs. Try not to worry - it really will grow back!

Thanks belgo!