Endometriosis and Breastfeeding

[Eryri1981]

One of my many reasons for choosing to breastfeed was as a way to temporarily control my Endometriosis symptoms through Lactational amenorrhea (LAM), and so far I feel great.

From what I have read, in order to ensure LAM baby needs to be feeding at intervals less than 6 hours. Last night DD (12 weeks) went 6hours 45 mins and is still asleep for her second block after 5+hours. DD has been building up towards this for a while now (with a bit of a blip over the last week 11-12 week wonder week - the Wonderweek App/ Book is so amazing!!).

Does anyone else have experience of using LAM to control Endo?

What do I do? Should I set an alarm and wake DD for a feed after 6 hours?
I am desperate for my periods not to come back, not just the pain but the fatigue that the Endometriosis causes are crippling and not having them at the moment means I'm feeling the best I have for years.

I appreciate that for parents of poor sleeping babies that this could come across as Goady...I do realise how lucky I am to have a good sleeper.

Questions to ask your doctor

Your Estrogen may be so different from before you became pregnant that this may be having a major effect on your Endometriosis

Here is a general piece about Endometriosis that you might like to review, so that you can try things out before you stop breast feeding:

What if your Endometriosis is caused - or made worse - by things that you eat, or don't eat ?

Here are some questions to ask your doctors about Endometriosis:

• What causes it ?
• How will looking at it and scraping it help me get better ?
• How can I stop it recurring ?
• Do I have too much Estrogen in my body ?
• Could my illness be caused by things that I eat, or don't eat ?
• What can I change about my diet and lifestyle to help my body repair itself ?

These are easy questions to ask, but very difficult for doctors to answer as they know very little about Nutrition. It may be worth asking them to refer you to a Dietitian or a Nutritional Therapist, as they specialise in Nutrition.

If your doctor won't do this, try a search for BANT or "Nutritional Therapist" and interview 10 of them to find 1 who has had success advising about Endometriosis

Search online for "anti-inflammatory diet"
Here is an example: Anti Inflammation Food Guide

This and the suggestions below may help to reduce the pain

Here are 3 well-proven natural ways to reduce the Inflammation that causes the pain of Endometriosis

• Increase your Vitamin D
• Increase your Omega-3
• Reduce your Omega-6

Here are some relevant references that may be useful to you:
Vitamin D Wiki
Optimise Omega-6/3 Ratio
How much Omega-3 ?
15 Omega-3 Foods
What to Do About Inflammation ?
Expert Omega-3

Some people have reported that eating specific foods like meat or dairy gives them an instant flare-up
You may find that keeping a Food Diary may help you find out which foods make your Endometriosis worse and which may help
.