[Counting our Blessings]

Hi ladies,
I am 21 weeks along with our 9th little one . After number 8, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Actually my TSH was "normal" but I felt like I got hit by a bus. My doctor agreed to treat me, so I have been on Armour since December. My TSH is now 1.99 and I feel really really good. But my question for you all is, is bfing harder because of thyroid disorders? I have tried after all my births to nurse and I honestly just don't make anything. My bra size never changes, I never get engorged (for maybe a day when whatever milk I have comes in) and thats it. Baby's seem to latch good, but just don't have any wet or dirty diapers, so I know they are not getting much if anything. I have tried almost everything to increase my supply to no avail. Is this a problem for anyone else? Now that I'm being treated, does that improve my chances do you think? I've always struggled to bf, and I am pretty sure I wasn't hypo during my other births, but just wondering if anyone had any experience with this.

Thanks ladies. And I want to thank all of you have put together websites and all the useful info. It made a huge difference to me. I felt like an educated person when it comes to talking to my doctor about my thyroid.

[daisyduck]

Hi and congrats on number 9! Wow, so exciting! I'm so glad to hear that you are feeling really good with your thyroid, especially during pregnancy. I cannot say for sure about milk supply with a thyroid problem, but here are my thoughts. Although I was not diagnosed with a thyroid problem right after my second child was born, I'm sure that I developed it and just didn't realize it. I felt awful, but didn't know if it was just post-partum related or not. I struggled with milk supply after my second, so it COULD be the thyroid, or it could be because I had had a c-section for that one. I honestly don't know which (or if both) affected my milk supply. Just my opinion here, but I DO think that it will increase your chances of good milk supply since your thyroid condition is well under control. I am now almost 7 weeks pregnant with our #3, and I've been thinking about this very thing. I hope others can jump in on this. I hope you continue to have a H&H pregnancy, and that you will continue to feel good with your thyroid.

[MarieJ]

I had hypothryoid on Synthroid, and a c/s and my milk came in on day 4, and I started EBF on day 7, and EBF for 6 months--I had to keep eating lots of oatmeal and lots and lots of water, but it got done--I'm anticipating bottling and breast this time at first, since bean will likely be in NICU again and bottled for four days, but my goal is to ebf again

[4 Butterflies]

I actually haven't had any issues. I BFed DS2 (was dx with Hashi's after DS1) until 2yo. I think having a tight control over thyroid levels will be key. Be sure that the 1st 6mos PP, you are being tested every 6w since your hormones will fluctuate quite a bit after having a baby. I will say that I noticed my supply was lower with DS2 than it was with DD or DS1, but not low enough that I couldn't EBF. You may need to do extra stuff to increase your supply.

[MochaBailey]

This post is really late, however maybe some one could benefit from it if I responded.
I was diagnoised in 2001 with hypothyroidism after the birth of my first child. I nursed him for the first 8mos and didn't know I was hypothyroid so my milk dried up. It was a pain to finally get to a normal level and took many years. In 2005 I became pregnant with my second child. Nursed successfully and exclusively for 2 years with him. I became pregnant with my third child in 2008 and was going to ween my 2nd child slowly because I actually wanted him to self ween, however I couldn't personally handle tandem nursing, I felt weird doing it. So my 2nd child unfortunately was forced to ween when my 3rd child was around 2 weeks old. My 3rd child was breastfed to 2.5 years old when I finally had to ween him. My milk started to dry up because I was having thyroid problems again.
To sum it up, I breastfed 4.5 years straight, no breaks...even breastfed while pregnant. But I did dry up when I have thyroid problems. So in my experience I had zero breastfeeding problems while my thyroid was in normal limits for me. When it wasn't I dried up rather quickly.