Ectopic caused by breastfeeding hormonal imbalance?

[Starry4321]

I recently had ectopic with tube removal. Still breastfeeding first. Consultant said my tube looked healthy minus the ectopic. I’ve since read that ectopics can be caused by hormonal imbalance. I’m currently breastfeeding my 1.5 year old, but my periods are irregular. Could ectopic have been caused by my hormones being out of whack? If so I’ll need to stop breastfeeding for when we try again. Link to study below

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3555916/

No there is no evidence to show that bf would cause an ectopic pregnancy.

I personally believe (from my own experience) it makes it harder to conceive but ectopic? No
💐

Edited to add: prolactin is the hormone associated with bf, which is not mentioned in the abstract above

Thank you. That is reassuring. We plan to try again soon and I am anxious to ensure that I don’t do anything that might have caused it first time round. I am now dealing with only one tube so really don’t want this happening again. I have read a lot of positive stories about conception after tube removed however and they are very positive so that is somewhat reassuring.

Hi @Starry4321,

Sorry to hear about your ectopic pregnancy. Hope you are healing and recovering well. I had an ectopic pregnancy 18 years ago which resulted in me loosing my left tube. I have had two children since and another two pregnancies this year that have resulted in miscarriage. I am feeding my 2.6 month old still and just think I've been unlucky having two miscarriages whilst feeding. I am almost 40 now. 🥴. I had a 21 day test in March just before and of the miscarriages that tested for lots of different hormones and other things and my prolactin came back within normal range although I was breastfeeding up to 10 times a day some days. I would ask your GP for some tests and see where you are with things. I definitely don't believe my miscarriages had anything to do with breastfeeding my little girl. Good Luck! X

I believe the same thing happened to me. My luteal phase was 5 days on the 2 periods I had before conceiving so I think it was a hormonal imbalance like you say. My tube that was removed was the one my little girl came from so doubtful it was damaged before, the consultant said everything all looked good otherwise. Did you stop breastfeeding? I decided to, on the first cycle of ttc now

Sorry this happened to you :( after my surgery I just tried again and I am now currently 8 weeks pregnant with baby and heartbeat in the right place confirmed via early NHS scan. Can’t believe it happened so quickly! Conceived 3 months after my surgery. I am still breastfeeding but was breastfeeding a lot less when I conceived (3 times a day). They also confirmed I had mild endo during my lap so this may have been a factor.

Ahh that’s amazing news! They couldn’t see anything that shouldn’t be there during my surgery so I do just think it was the hormones out of wack! I’ve just ovulated so I’ll keep hopeful xx

I wish there was more research on ectopics as it’s more common than people think. My luteal phase had got longer by the time I started TTC again due to less breastfeeding. However it could have been anything or just a random event. But I’ve heard so many success stories with 1 remaining tube and it happened for me so quickly it made me wonder if my tube that was removed was damaged as it took me 2 years to conceive our son! And how it’s happening much quicker. Who knows! Good luck with your TTC journey! 🙏