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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Mini pill - any thoughts

13 replies

Sallie · 06/08/2006 20:38

Am currently taking the mini pill and am still bf my dd twice a day - morning and evening (she is 11 months). She is not taking much now and am beginning to think about other means of contraception if needed. How safe really is the mini-pill? I have not been the most regular at taking it but have had no problems yet......it seems to give me fewer side-effects than I remember getting with the combined pill. Any thoughts....?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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Gillian76 · 06/08/2006 20:40

I always say that it is thanks to the mini pill I conceived DS

Never taken the combined pill...

Original poster

Sallie · 06/08/2006 20:41

Did you take it regularly?

OP posts:

Gillian76 · 06/08/2006 20:46

Yes I did, only remember missing it once, and don't recall if we had intercourse around that time. Now either I am incredibly unlucky, or it wasn't totally effective!

ja9 · 06/08/2006 20:48

i totally forgot that it was dependent on bf for effectiveness... i stopped feeding months ago and never thought to change my pill!!!

PiccadillyCircus · 06/08/2006 20:48

I found that the mini pill decreased my libido such that I didn't want to have sex at all (so was a good contraceptive ). Then used condoms for a while apart from one night (and now have 10.5 month old DD).

I'm taking the combined pill now and no side effects (although didn't have any when I took it before DS was born). I have stopped breastfeeding DD now I think (last bf her on Friday but not sure whether this is it IYKWIM). There is a greater margin for error with the combined pill fro what I remember (12 hour window rather than 3 hours with min pill).

PiccadillyCircus · 06/08/2006 20:49

DO you have to be breastfeeding for it to be effective? I'd never heard that before.

expatinscotland · 06/08/2006 20:51

Like PC, my libido COMPLETELY disappeared on the mini-pill.

It also sent my PND in over drive and I had 3 periods in one month on it.

Gillian76 · 06/08/2006 20:52

Don't think you have to be bf, PC. It's just that it's safe to take whilst bf.

Beetle73 · 06/08/2006 20:54

I carried on taking it when I'd finished bf, but eventually switched to combined pill, because mini-pill was giving melight bleeding almost continuously.

ja9 · 06/08/2006 20:58

i'm sure i remember my dr saying something about it not being as effective on it's own, but that together with the level of contraceptive that bf offers itis almost the same level of effectivenes offered by combined pill...

maybe i made that up? but i don't think so...

ja9 · 06/08/2006 20:59

anyway, combined pill much more forgiving in that you don't have to take it at same time everyday. helps me as i'm v v v forgetful.

cmm · 06/08/2006 23:53

I took the minipill for years - found it fine but the only prob is that I had very few periods - not a problem for most of the time (quite good really) but then you are never quite sure if you're pregnant! I was told that unless you forgot it or took it over 2 hours late, the effectiveness was near on as good as combined. It took me 9 mths to get pregnant after coming off it - only had about 2/3 periods a year!

LaDiDaDi · 07/08/2006 12:00

There is a new minipill called Cerazette that gives you a 12 hour window in which to take it and is just as effective as the combined pill because it stops ovulation whereas other minipills just work by changing the environment, thicker cervical mucus etc so that conception is more difficult. I'm taking it at the moment and no probs so far but i know that some people have found it gave them lots of bleeding and acne. Expatinscotland had this prob and so did one of my rl friends.

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