vitamins while breastfeeding and ttc

[borntobemummy]

Hey all,
Looking for some solid help, which is hard to find out in the WWW. I am still BF my almost 9 month old DD, TTC, and still haven't got PPAF. I've just started taking women's multi, EPO, fish oil, and B-Complex. I am thinking of taking vitex too. Does this sound ok? Since, i haven't had PPAF, I have no idea if/when i have/will O, so am worried about the caution of taking EPO after O, and vitex while PG as I may take it before finding out i am PG (which i still have suspicisions of despite BFNs). I hope you can follow that, I really need to find help, my dream of having babies close together is drifting further away every day..
Thanks,
Joelle

[Bec@Brisbane]

I would ask at the local health shop they sometimes have a natropath in house the multis as long as the are pregnancy ones will be ok but the vitex i heard was a nono maybe someone else could confirm this but i also heard it might dry up your milk, and i have just been told (this week) the vitex supresses LH and increases progesterone so should only be taken from ovulation onwards I had been taking it from CD1 and my cycle went from a 28day to a 36day I hope this helped i hope you get some more posts here because i would love to know for sure about vitex and breastfeeding i think i saw it in here when i read about the lh stuff:o:) good luck

[borntobemummy]

thanks, i heard that vitex is actually given to increase milk supply! That's why I'm so confused, everywhere i look, different advice, I guess i could go to the health shop (only shyness stopping me), but what if their advice is just another opinion? Keep the replies coming...please

[Tam-I-Am]

stop taking the women's multi - now! They have far too much vit A in them for pregnancy - Vit A can cause birth defects. Instead., there are some really good pregnancy/breastfeeding supplements on the market - talk to a pharmacist about the best one for you.

[My Miracle Baby]

I agree Clarabelle. You need to stop taking a womens multivitamin because it is not designed for pregnancy. They may have Vitamin A in them which is linked to birth defects (when you have it in large amounts - you get enough from food). You need to take a pregnancy supplement such as Elevit which my obstetrician recommended (available from the pharmacy). All the best.

[Bec@Brisbane]

I found this link for you i hope it helps

http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/herbaldrugs/102870.shtml
I'll keep looking Bec

[borntobemummy]

Thanks so much guys for responding. I guess i need to quit the multi and don't do vitex (according to the link from Bec). I've just been taking the multi to finish the bottle before i buy something else- i'll look into elivit and others (I am on a tight budget:o ).

[Tam-I-Am]

okay, but make sure you get plenty of folate - at least 550mcg per day. It helps to stop the babe being born with neural tube defects like spina bifida.

[borntobemummy]

just read the label of my multi, and it doesn't even have vitamin a anyway, so i gues i'll just finish it off first, only about a week of them left anyway.. And i am getting enough folate too now. What about Kelp, I used to take those to help regulate my cycles due to PCOS?

[Bec@Brisbane]

I know your just trying to do the right thing but i never went on multis only folic acid ,i'm good with my food, I would go on them if i wasn't eating my 5 food groups etc but you could just take the folate if money is a bit tight, I've seen some women who have had healthy baby's and never drank a drop of milk(my Mum)I wouldn't recommend it, but it's just an example:)

[Michimum]

Hi Borntobemummy,

reading your post was very similar to my situation. I have an 8 month old and would love to start working towards another. I breastfeed and would like this to continue until she self weans but still haven't gotten my PPAF also. I saw a naturopath last week about vitex and she looked at her references and said that it would be fine to take this to start AF. She initially had concerns about the safety profile whilst BF but the herb Vitex is also used as a Galactogogue, which can also 'stimulate' milk production. My uptake on the whole thing is that it must regulate and therefore balance out the prolactin in the body, thus can be used to increase or decrease, (if that makes sense?) depending on the situation. I note that a lot of the girls on the forum take large quantities ie. 1000mg 2 x 3 times a day and the dosage that the naturopath gave me was only 180mg taken once daily. The naturopath did say that this specific form of vitex was not the 'quick' type and it would take a couple of months to become effective. Unfortunatley this does conracdict what was on the link that Bec provided, and has gotten me thinking. It can be so hard to find firm information. I am going to make another appointment with a different naturopath just to confirm (second opinion!) I will let you know the outcome!

Good luck and I know what you mean about the dream of a family close in age 'slipping away!' :thumbsup:

[borntobemummy]

Yeah, I'm pretty convinced Vitex would be safe to use now, but what if i'm already PG or get PG while taking it?
But yay :smiliedance: finally someone else in the same boat! Could you read my thread about getting PG b4 PPAF and give your opinion whether i should test or not, just so confused :confused: