Expert: Sally Wendkos Olds - 10/16/2004

Question
Hi there,

I'm nursing my 6-month-old, and the relationship is going well.  

After the birth of my first child, now 3, my hormones went terribly out of balance.  I wasn't able to nurse her as long as I wanted, having to stop at 9 weeks and pumping the whole time.  Once I weaned, I began to get severe headaches, nausea, dizziness, skin pigmentation, acne, slowed metabolism, depression, and weight gain, among other symptoms.  My nutritionist put me on Natural Progesterone cream, and within 2 weeks many of my symptoms cleared up!

By the time I got pregnant again with #2, I felt more like myself than I had since before I ever became pregnant.  However, because my nutritionist wasn't clear about the effects of Natural Progesterone cream during pregnancy and nursing, she suggested I stop using it.

Well, my pregnancy was terrible!  I was nauseous and dizzy and had severe headaches right through the 5th month and again towards the end.

Now, I'm breastfeeding and having many of the same symptoms.  A couple of nights ago I was literally crawling on all fours in pain and tears due to a severe headache, nausea, and dizziness.  I would like to start the progesterone cream again, but there is little information about it with regards to nursing.  Some women on breastfeeding chatrooms have suggested Vitex to balance the horomonal levels.

I should also mention that with both nursing experiences, I overproduced milk.  With my first child, I had almost 3 months supply of breastmilk reserve in the freezer!  With my current baby, I can give her one breast for each feeding and she comes off the breast drunk with milk.  I have a letdown in the other breast when she's nursing, and sometimes during the night I have to get up to change my bra because the nursing pad has soaked through on the side that she didn't nurse.

I don't know if that's "normal", but I haven't been able to live without nursing pads since I began ; ).

My husband works 16-18 hour days and I can't afford to be non-functional with 2 kids under 3.  Please help!  Any feedback or suggestions you could offer would be deeply appreciated.  

Thank you so much for your time.

Answer
Dear Neesha,

I have found some information for you about progesterone cream. Dr. Tom Hale has information about this cream on his website:
           http://neonatal.ttuhsc.edu/

          Specific to the cream:
       http://neonatal.ama.ttuhsc.edu/discus/messages/59/811.html?1076604353

Dr. Hale also gives more info about it in his book, "Medications and Mothers' Milk," which La Leche League International carries in its catalog.

See the professional books section:
           http://www.lalecheleague.org/Web_store/web_store.cgi

Also, Dr. Eisenstein, a well-known pro-breastfeeding doctor in the Chicagoland area has information on progesterone cream on his web site.  You may also want to contact him:

           http://www.homefirst.com/main.htm

For your overproduction problem you may want to contact a local La Leche League Leader.  There is password protected part of the League's web site that only Leaders can get into.  It has the contact info for Leaders on its Leader Specialty List.  The local Leader can give you the names and email addresses of Leaders who specialize in overactive letdown/ oversupply issues.

           http://lalecheleague.org/WebIndex.html

Here is basic contact info for La Leche League International:

www.lalecheleague.org
1400 North Meacham Road
Post Office Box 4079
Schaumburg, IL  60168-4079  USA
847-519-7730, Ext. 245
847-519-0035 (Fax)
--------
Good luck!

Sally

Sally Wendkos Olds
Author, THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BREASTFEEDING: Eiger & Olds, 3rd edition 1999, published by Workman Publishing & Bantam Books, and available in most public libraries, bookstores & La Leche League chapters.