Frozen cycle whilst breastfeeding-sorry if this is the wrong section

[Dove88]

I didn’t know where else to post this question, sorry if it’s upsetting for anyone.

I have a nearly one year old that we had through IVF. I still have a frozen embryo that we want to try with over the summer. My daughter is very much not ready to be weaned off breastfeeding and to be honest the thought is upsetting to me too.
I know plenty of women tandem feed but no one who has gone through a frozen cycle whilst still feeding. Is this even possible?
If I wean her and the transfer isn’t successful I will be doubly devastated

I've had one frozen cycle while breastfeeding. I got pregnant but had an early miscarriage.

I was still feeding my dd 2 or 3 times at night (none during the day). When I spoke to my consultant about it he suggested fully weaning but said if it was only a couple of times a day it probably wouldn't make much difference to the embryo transfer so I decided to continue.

One thing my consultant did require was for me to have had at least 3 regular menstrual cycles in a row before he'd agree to doing a frozen cycle. @Dove88 have your periods come back yet?

While my transfer was ultimately unsuccessful I don't think it was due to breastfeeding and I'm still okay with the fact that I continued.

Hopefully someone else will post with a success story.

I was in the same boat (1 embryo in the freezer and still breastfeeding with baby just turned 1) but my cycles did not come back while I was breastfeeding and I couldn't organise the FET until I had my cycles back (according to my clinic). So I made the decision to wean and my cycles can back a few weeks later. I totally understand not wanting to wean if your baby is not ready. I thought mine was going to be distraught but he was completely fine. Was a bit offended! haha

I did want to share a really good facebook group I can across with lots of cases of women doing treatment while breastfeeding- called 'Breastfeeding mums undergoing Fertility Treatment/IVF'. Highly recommend!

Thank you both so much. I hadn’t considered that I would need to have my period before doing another cycle. They’ve not come back although I have had cramp type pains the last couple of months when I think my periods would have been.
@ingkirSorry for your loss. It’s interesting that you were able to feed a couple of times a day still. My daughter is very much a milk lover but I may try to wean her from day feeds and keep the night feeds then if my period dies return.
@Jane1284 thank you for the recommendation! I will have a look

Another one who was told to have periods back before doing the cycle. I have a 6 month old and planning to do a transfer when she turns 1 so I’m weaning now. It’s not nice having the choice of when to wean but I rationalise it as how my DD would prefer a sibling over breastfeeding she won’t remember!

re feeding and doing FET - personally I wouldn’t be happy to feed DD while taking artificial hormones.

@AnotherAnother1 you’re right about her preferring a sibling. But if it doesn’t work I will feel like I’ve taken something special away from her for no reason. Although I suppose if I don’t wean and the transfer fails I will feel like it’s because of the breastfeeding and I will feel even worse.

Definitely need to not be so hard on yourself. Maybe take some time to get your head around stopping for the transfer as a good thing not something to feel bad about if transfer fails. You have fed for a full year which is amazing. For me I really do feel that I want to do everything I can to give DD a sibling and to not give over more years to trying for one at the expense of totally focusing on her childhood. So for me it’s best to stop breastfeeding now and do everything I can to prepare for a successful transfer of our remaining embryos then know I’ve done my best and will focus on my DD if no success. They won’t even remember being breastfed when they’re older.

I'm in a similar situation @Dove88 , I was actually supposed to start FET preparation this month and I have postponed it because I'm breastfeeding.
My periods returned pretty early on despite exclusively breastfeeding, although my clinic are content to start treatment on second period if other criteria are met (over 8 months post party or possibly longer after a C-section).

I don't want an embryo to go to waste if breastfeeding would make the transfer less likely to be successful but share @AnotherAnother1 's concern about hormones in the milk.
It took so long to have DC via IVF that I'm older than I'd want to be to have another, but I don't want to stop breastfeeding yet, if the FET doesn't work out this will be my only baby.