Soy Isoflavones while bf?

[mekvien]

nearly everywhere that I have found has suggested not taking them while breastfeeding, except I did find one thread on here that said it is possible to do. Wondering if anybody has ever taking them still nursing? If so what dosage and when? I am still nursing my one year old roughly 2x a day, and pumping once while at work. you still have never had a cycle after giving birth, and very anxious to start trying again I'm not quite ready to give up nursing completely. ..

[mekvien]

Anyone??

[atomic sagebrush]

if you are nursing 2x a day, it is very unlikely that it is breastfeeding that is keeping your cycle away, so please don't wean unless YOU want to. Is there any way you can give up the midday pump or do you need that milk?

My philosophy on taking things during nursing is all about the risk vs. benefit. I think if you were to take them sensibly, it's probably ok. The issue is that soy can mess with hormones and it does come out in milk so ostensibly could affect your baby and affect their hormones. Would I do it, no I wouldn't, but I did take vitex while breastfeeding twice.

But here's the deal - if your cycle hasn't come back, taking soy is not necessarily going to MAKE it come back. Especially since you are not starting it on CD 3,4,5 and are just guessing. What you're suggesting is risky because you may have eggs in development in your ovaries already and you could end up causing a cyst. Cysts can take months to resolve and you don't ovulate when you have one, in many cases. So you'd end up being in a worse situation than you were to start with, you know?

What I see is that you are considering doing something that has risks for both your nursing baby and yourself for no guaranteed benefit and possibly even making it worse.

[mekvien]

Thank you. I haven't ovulated without the help of clomid, in 10 years. I'm antsy to start TTC again. I am assuming I won't O on my own post weaning, so that's why I wanted to tey ISO flavs. Would vitex help with that?

[mekvien]

Also curious, what would taking them sensibly look like?

[2blue1pink]

When I was about 9 months pp and breastfeeding DS1, I took vitex to bring my periods back (it worked) and then soy iso to ovulate the following cycle...and here is Ds2. I don't ovulate normally without meds either. Ds1 was sleeping through the night so I just took them after he was asleep. But I took nothing after Ds2 and my period came back 9-10ish months later so maybe my body was ready anyway.

[mekvien]

When I was about 9 months pp and breastfeeding DS1, I took vitex to bring my periods back (it worked) and then soy iso to ovulate the following cycle...and here is Ds2. I don't ovulate normally without meds either. Ds1 was sleeping through the night so I just took them after he was asleep. But I took nothing after Ds2 and my period came back 9-10ish months later so maybe my body was ready anyway.

Thanks! What dosage did you take? That's the only reason I'm considering taking them, I wouldn't bf for 10 hours after taking them. Is that enough time?

[atomic sagebrush]

Thank you. I haven't ovulated without the help of clomid, in 10 years. I'm antsy to start TTC again. I am assuming I won't O on my own post weaning, so that's why I wanted to tey ISO flavs. Would vitex help with that?

Can you not get Clomid??

Vitex has seemed to help some people and not others. What you can do is look back at what your cycle was before you got pg (and in your case, since you did not have a cycle, pretend that you did based on when you ovulated/conceived) and take vitex for 2 weeks on from what would have ben CD 1-CD 14, and then take the next two weeks off vitex. REpeat till you get AF or ovulate.

[atomic sagebrush]

Also curious, what would taking them sensibly look like?

Waiting till you have AF and not just randomly starting them when you have no idea if there is any activity in your ovaries or not, then starting them on CD 3,4,or 5, for only 5 days and then nothing after that, taking a small dose like 50 or 100 mg maximum, after baby has gone to bed for the night and no cheating and nursing if he/she wakes up later!

[atomic sagebrush]

When I was about 9 months pp and breastfeeding DS1, I took vitex to bring my periods back (it worked) and then soy iso to ovulate the following cycle...and here is Ds2. I don't ovulate normally without meds either. Ds1 was sleeping through the night so I just took them after he was asleep. But I took nothing after Ds2 and my period came back 9-10ish months later so maybe my body was ready anyway.

But she was having her period and knew when to start them. the breastfeeding and safety is only part of the equation here. the real issue is that if you are not getting AF, you can't know when to take them and they probably will not work anyway, so it would be a mistake to take the risk (however miniscule) because it's not going to benefit you. It could even cause cysts that might make it take even longer for your cycle to return.