Looking for mothers with Multiple Sclerosis....?!
Question:
Looking for mothers with Multiple Sclerosis....?
Did you attempt to breastfeed before starting on meds after birth?
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Answers:
Hi. I just had a baby and I have Multiple Sclerosis. I am breastfeeding at this time. My neurologist told me to give it a couple of months and she will closely monitor me. If I am doing good and have not had any relapses, she is comfortable with me continuing to breastfeed for a while. This is the second time I have had a child since being diagnosed. I went off my meds before pregnancy both times. I had one minor relapse when my older child was six months old but nothing severe. That is the last relapse I have had -- none since. In fact, I had many of them before I had my older child and I felt great during and after the pregnancy. As soon as I stopped breastfeeding I went back on the meds and my MRI looked good afterwards.
I think if you want to attempt to breastfeed just make sure you keep in contact with your neurologist to monitor your progress. All those good hormones that are released during pregnancy and breastfeeding are beneficial to some women and help the MS go into remission. And I think if you breastfeed for six weeks the baby will get lots of the good stuff that he/she needs from the breastmilk.
My other advice is not to stress about your desicion, no matter what you do. Stress is not good when it comes to MS, and after giving birth (which is much stress itself) try not to add to it by worrying about what might happen. Try to relax if you can. One thing that really helped me was to have lots of help taking care of myself and baby so that I could take it easy. My neurologist agreed that having plenty of time to recover after birth, for even longer than my OB recommended, was best in my situation.
Good luck, no matter what.