for anyone thinking of breastfeeding....

[lexyjay]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-30020003

Thought this was interesting.... its about the injection after birth to speed up the placenta can make breast feeding more difficult...

Mentioned this to my midwife today, she thought it was nonsense!

I know that data is not the plural of anecdote but I had the injection both times and no issues with breastfeeding.

I had the injection and luckily fed no problems. My sister is a midwife said same as PP and thinks this isn't particularly true either.

It's not given to 'speed the placenta up' but to reduce the risk of post-partum haemorrhage.

You make an informed choice depending on your risk of bleeding badly. How many births have you had? How long is your labour? What interventions? How big or small are you? Etc.

Weigh up the risks and decide then.

It can also make your blood pressure go up, your temperature go up, nausea, shaking, before you even start thinking about oxytocin and what's inhibiting that.

I had injection and breastfeeding was painful for the first couple of weeks. I was clenching my teeth and almost in tears for the first couple of minutes of each feed. But you can power through it! I did, am now 6 months in and ebf, no problems.

Had the injection and the placenta didn't deliver (but that was why I thought it was given). It never impacted my ability to breastfeed either.

There are a whole host of factors that can affect breastfeeding.

I struggled to bf DS1, had the injection twice as I bled and my placenta wouldn't deliver, I was anaemic and didn't produce any milk.

Bled even worse with DS2, had all sorts of drips and injections, severely anaemic and successfully mix feeding.

Is ergotmetrine the same as syntocinon/syndrometrine? The NCt states the latter two are used for an active third stage. I thought ergotmetrine was used for pph? Maybe they are all the same and I am ignorant...

There was less than 300women on that study. I'd be very interested to know how small the number of women who didn't have the injection was. I don't think its anywhere near a large enough study to give meaningful data.

Also if you choose not to have the injection (which goes against the standard reccomendation) you will have in all likelihood done a lot of research into natural ways for birth and that would probably mean you've done quite a bit of breastfeeding research too. So would know to expect difficulties with breastfeeding.

Whereas women who have the injection would probably be far more evenly split in those that have fully researched all things birth and postnatal and those who have done none and are just following the recommendations of midwives. So there would in all likelihood be more people within this group who hadn't researched breastfeeding much but thought they'd give it a go, and therefore less likely to expect difficulties in breastfeeding. This in itself could explain the differences.