IVF transfer while still breastfeeding

[Colyflower]

Hi all, I wasn’t sure if this was the right place to ask but we went through years of ivf and last year we were extremely luckily to finally have our beautiful rainbow baby. I’m still breastfeeding at 9 months and thinking about doing another cycle early next year. It may be that our breastfeeding journey will come to a natural end by then but I wondered if anyone else had continued breastfeeding and gone through an ivf transfer? We’ll be doing mild, so less drugs, I will book an appointment at my clinic to ask but wondered if anyone else has done the same. I wouldn’t want to wean off until ready as we feed to sleep and I’m petrified of trying to get LO to sleep without boob! 😂

I have no idea but there is a link on here to join a (closed) Facebook group which says it has factsheets with info from a pharmacist. They might be able to give you lots of info whilst waiting for an appointment.
Congratulations and good luck with your FET.

www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/ivf/

I'm going to say that I feel it is a bit insensitive to post here. You might be better in chat.

IVF clinics won't agree to do a cycle when you are still breastfeeding because

• you could pass the drugs on through your breast milk not sure why you would risk this with your current baby?

• it changes your hormones so you could react negatively to the drug stimulation and not have as successful a cycle had you weaned first

• breastfeeding is well known to suppress ability to ovulate so also negatively affecting the success of the cycle

You'd also need to check with your clinic about how soon you can cycle after birth. Most stipulate 18months - 2 years. Mine wanted specialist doctor approval to do it in less than 18 months.

(I don't think this post is insensitive - lots of members of the infertility boards already have at least 1 child and are going through IVF and post on here)

Thank you. This is very helpful. Will take a look.

Thank you. I may not have worded my post that well, I wasn’t intending to breastfeed while doing ivf, especially if it was an issue. When I googled I got different opinions, some saying yes it’s ok, some saying possibly with doctors recommendation, some saying no etc. I just wanted to know if someone had faced a similar situation so I know what to expect.

I will of course speak to my clinic as soon as I can, I guess I’m just very apprehensive about going through it all again and just wanted some reassurance.

@Colyflower

I'm not sure google will be of much help - many of the sites will be American and the clinics out there tend to be a bit more relaxed about things.

I'd try your clinics website - I know many clinics specifically talk about breastfeeding and IVF on their Q&A page and U.K. clinics tend to be more wary of doing it. (Well doing anything that could potentially reduce your chance of success and therefore lower their published success rates)

I’m so sorry you feel my post is insensitive, it was never my intention to upset anyone. I of all people know how hard this infertility journey is, I’ve had my fair share of it and been in some very dark places. I’m still suffering from undiagnosed infertility, I could go through more failed ivfs and miscarriages and never know why but I can only try. I just wanted some advice from people who have had to think about doing ivf again but are currently breastfeeding. I know it’s a nice problem to have and I am of course extremely lucky and grateful but the prospect of doing it all again is still as daunting as it was before and I’m feeling extremely nervous and anxious about it and was just looking for some advice.

Sure they advise to stop bf due to drugs

I have no advice but just wanted to let you know I don't think it's insensitive at all!! In fact I find it gives me optimism when I hear successfully ivf stories. Good luck!

Colyflower your original post is not insensitive imo and I came back to the thread after skimming it earlier to say so. The main reason I didn't think it was insensitive is that the title made it pretty clear that you already have a baby so people don't need to click. I don't think you'd be likely to find someone in Chat with the experience you need.
There are plenty of posters here trying for a second or third baby, some of them had their first easily and never imagined how much more difficult it would all be, some of them struggled first time around.
A nice problem to have is still a problem for you and will be the case for many people.
We are fortunate to have lots of vials of frozen sperm from before my DH's cancer treatment, which may look like a nice problem to have for a couple with no available sperm. (Just need to transport it somewhere now as we're unhappy with the clinic where it's stored after unsuccessful attempts there).
I'll admit you lost me a bit when you said it's just as daunting second time around because part of the first time struggle I think is the thought what if it never works and you never become a mum, and you won't have that, but I expect you'll have other different concerns about having a sibling for your baby.
I'd second ivfbeenbusy to contact your clinic because even if someone on here has had success at IVF while breastfeeding there are so many odds already against you and if it didn't work you'd wonder if it had anything to do with it. Plus your clinic might say no way Jose so at least you'll know and you can ask them about the gap they want between giving birth and starting up again. A friend has IVF babies born 2 years apart almost to the day, though her second was a FET so I guess that could make a difference as she didn't need to do another cycle.

No advice ref BF
But i also dont think its insensitive at all!

Its an IVF related question and your title was clear enough to warn if people would be potentially upsetting..