Breastfeeding with Osteoporosis?

• By sport
• Posted September 29, 2008 at 10:40 am
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How old are you and what, if any, medical conditions do you have? Are you on any meds?

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• By litltopaz
• Posted September 29, 2008 at 12:19 pm
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I'm 26 years old - not on any current medication (taking prenatal vitamins plus extra calcium citrate) and no medical conditions other than osteoporosis and related fractures discovered in my spine about 3 months after my c-section (had pain during pregnancy but more significantly a few weeks after birth - took awhile before any doctor would consider it being more than muscular weakness and poor posture). All recent blood tests have been normal - they've ruled out bone cancer, thyroid problems and vitamin deficiencies (and possible other things - still learning what all the test are for). I'm going to the doctor for the results of more tests but they've already been faxed to me and are showing negative for anything abnormal except that my bone breakdown is high (test included urinary calcium excretion, hepatitus screen, pth and pth rp?, 1250 vitamin d?). Last doctor's visit was end of July, last test was taken 8/20, and the doctor won't see me or give me any feedback until 10/11.

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• By waters
• Posted January 12, 2009 at 10:14 am
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Hi ladies! What a thrill to 'meet' you both. Yarngoddess, you have not fractured yet, have you? I hope not! Litltopaz- I am 35 and a 2nd time new mom. I too have severe osteoporosis and several thoracic spinal compression fractures that I received jst after I had my first son in 2005. I kept breastfeeding our first until he was over 9mos old despite knowing about the fractures. None of the dr's told me to stop, and quite honestly, I didn't want to stop anyway. However, now with baby #2 (born 8/29/08), I now know how hard breastfeeding is on our bones. I saw mine start to come back after I finally stopped breastfeeding our first. This time my endocrinologist and my ortho told me to stop. They are right- I need to get estrogen back into my body and have my bones come back ASAP so I can hold my little guy and be there for both of our boys. It is SO SAD and SO hard to stop!! It's only been 1.5 weeks but he's still not adjusted to the formula yet. It is VERY hard with the back pain, and the emotions from stopping breastfeeding and trying to work too etc. I am still nursing 1x per day but need to cut that out this week :(. I understand what you are going through and can help. You can have another baby!! I will tell you about a study that is going on at Columbia for the very rare condition that we have. I've also met some of the most talented endocrinologist's in the country and can share those experiences too. Don't lose hope - it WILL get better.

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• By Karlsmum
• Posted May 27, 2009 at 9:45 am
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Hoping things are going well for you litltopaz given you weaned last year.

I just wanted to add my experience and some information I have found for anyone new who is looking into this (as I found this in a google search when looking for information).

I was diagnosed with osteoporosis (pregnancy/lactation induced) a few weeks ago and have 2 fractures in my spine. I have been nursing my daughter for 8 months and noticed most information on the internet is pro-weaning for this diagnosis. I was not keen to wean so kept looking and searching for information.

My husband found a study called "Pregnancy and Lactation Confer Reversible Bone Loss in Humans" by C. Karlsson, K. J. Obrant and M. Karlsson at
the Department of Pediatrics and Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Department of Orthopaedics, University Hospital UMAS, Malmo in Sweden which studied 73 women who had sustained fractures in pregnancy/lactation (this was the biggest study we could find - happy if anyone has any others). The results suggest that bone density loss stops at 6 months of lactation and breastfeeding beyond that point makes no difference to bone loss. In my experience my fractures were not picked up until my daughter was 8 months old, so whether I continue to nurse or not will not change my outcomes except for delaying recovery of bone loss if only using conventional methods (which I am not). The study also showed that future pregnancies were often not affected and many women did not have further fractures.

Personally for me I think there is more I can do by a diet change (adopting a alkaline diet), exercise, supplements and getting some good Vit D than stopping nursing which I know will have long term benefits for both myself and my daughter.

I actually don't see pregnancy and breastfeeding as the 'true' issue, just making me vulnerable for fractures. For me I know it's more about my lack of activity and not great diet choices (my diet has always been 'ok' but still alot of processed foods, sugar and fat). So I am trying to see this diagnosis as a 'wake up call' for some changes that will benefit myself and my family in the long run. I can't wait for the day when I can again do everything I want to physically with my baby and be pain free and well :)

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• By YoungMum88
• Posted May 28, 2009 at 8:37 pm
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Please dont risk it! Your family is right, your baby will benefit much much more from having a mom that can actually look after her.
I am 21 and have the same condition, it was 2 months after birth the doctors found i had 6 fractures in my spine. I ended up in hospital and in a wheelchair. Six months has past and i am recovering slowly.
The thing is.... during pregnancy only a small amount of calcium is sucked from your bones but while you breastfeed 95% comes from your bones, this is why breastfeeding causes your bone density to decrease so rapidly.
I know how hard and impossible at times life has been and i just wish every mother out there would know how much damage you can do to your body now and maybe for the rest of your life is they insist on breastfeeding.
Giving up was a tough decision but it got to a point i was forced to stop because of the high dose of pain killers i was on.
Please listen to someone who has been through the exact same thing and if anything do it for your baby. My little boy is a champion and he is doing just fine on formula.

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• By YoungMum88
• Posted May 29, 2009 at 6:27 pm
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Unfortunately nothing you do as far as diet and lifestyle changes will help whilst you are breastfeeding. 95% of calcium is sucked from your bones during this time which is the reason our bone density rapidly decreases.
Please read my other post of my situation and i hope it helps change your mind. Yes breastfeeding will be good for your baby in the long run but no it wont be good for you and may cause complications for the rest of your life. Like i said, your baby will benefit much more from a mother who can actually look after her rather than someone who is in a wheelchair (which is where i ended up). Please recondsider.

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• By Karlsmum
• Posted May 30, 2009 at 5:39 am
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Hi youngmum,

Sorry to hear about your 6 fractures :( Thanks for your concern but as I stated above, my husband and I have done a fair amount of research since my diagnosis and have found that bone density actually stops decreasing at the 6 mth mark of breastfeeding (which is why most of us have our fractures before this time). My daughter is already 8 1/2 mths and I have no further fractures since she was 4 months and with my changes in diet, exercise and supplements I have had marked improvement in my pain and functioning just in the last few months (I started excercise and a change in diet before my diagnosis).

I understand that my bone density will not return to normal until I wean my daughter but my husband and I are confident that I will be able to prevent further fractures with the changes we have made given the marked improvement I have already had (and the studies we have read).

It is a personal choice that everyone needs to make for themselves, but for me to wean would be much more painful for my baby and myself as she uses the breast not only for food, but for sleep, comfort and other benefits. Weaning babies onto formula at such a late stage usually comes with issues of babies not accepting bottles (which mine won't), digestive issues (many babies can't tolerate the formula due to having breastmilk, which is easier to digest, for so long) etc., so it's not always a simple choice to wean.

So whilst I understand for some it's the right choice
to wean, for me it's not the right choice at this time.

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• By Lee29
• Posted May 31, 2009 at 5:23 pm
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Hi Karlsmum,
I've been reading your posts as I struggle with the same decision. My daughter is 4 months and although I have slowly started to introduce the bottle (as my endocrinologist said I must stop breastfeeding due to awful bone density scores - hip -2.1 and spine -3.1), her difficulty accepting the bottle and terrible gas makes me want to constantly reconsider. I never imagined weaning this early and thought I would breastfeed at least for a year if it worked out. I've also read multiple articles (and was so glad to have another resource with the Swedish study), and realize that the bone loss slows down at 6 months although doesn't rebound until full weaning. I have not fractured yet despite a lot of hip and back pain (do you know what that may be related to)? It is manageable without medication now (although early on, I was taking high doses of ibuprofin). I've been diagnosed with something called transient regional osteoporosis but from what I understand, it's the same condition described above. If you don't mind, can you share with me more of the specifics about what exercises you find helpful, what doses of supplements you are taking, etc., I would really appreciate it as I struggle to figure out how to proceed. If there are any other resources you have found helpful, I'd love to hear more about them. Thanks in advance for sharing your experience and decision making around this difficult issue.

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• By Karlsmum
• Posted June 1, 2009 at 10:07 am
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Hi Lee29,

Just for interests sake, my Dexa scores were -1.8 (T) and -2.0 (Z) in my femur (osteopenia) and -3.5 (T) and -3.8 (Z) in my spine (osteoporosis).

First up I would advise you to be very careful with all you are doing with the pain, I actually had pain for a few days before my fractures which I think may have been from the weakness of my bones but not entirely sure. The pain could also be related to lots of lifting of a young baby and also hormones which would still be in your body from birth making all your muscles etc very loose and not at their usual strength.

At your stage I think it's REALLY important you exercise daily (hard with a young baby) for at least 30 mins, I walk on the treadmill as it's just turning winter over here and helps me still weight bear. I would like to do more but at this stage it's all I can do.

For diet I mostly try to eat only fruit, veges, organic/free range meats and minimise processed foods, sugar, bad fats etc. I really need to change to an alkaline diet (google this as there is lots of information) as advised by my naturopath, but I have not done this completely as yet and it will be my next step. When the body is too high in acid calcium is pulled out of the bones to balance the body.

In regards to supplements I am taking a magnesium/calcium powder daily as well as homeopathic remedies of Calcarea Phos (30) for building bone and Silica (30) for the loss of structure in my spine (hoping to get my height back). I am still waiting on a high strength bone extract supplement my naturopath has ordered me which I believe is a mix of calcium, Vit D and other things (can let you know exactly what it is when I get it).

Personally I believe the exercise and diet changes are the most powerful tools and the supplements just supporting on top of that.

I also found this article by Dr Mercola very interesting and helpful when thinking about the real cause of the issue: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/05/23/Can-Calcium-A ctually-Make-Your-Bones-Weaker.aspx

Hope that's helpful :)

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• By Lee29
• Posted June 2, 2009 at 12:35 pm
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Hi Karlsmum,
Thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciate the information. I was also glad to see that I am following a lot of what you recommended. I am trying to walk anywhere between 20-30 minutes everyday with my daughter and I also swim at least 1-2x/week (although I know swimming is not weight bearing but somehow it makes my body less sore). I try to be careful about lifting (close to my body, etc.) but it is difficult with an infant and the pain I experience. I researched the alkaline diet online and I think I can incorporate a lot of the recommended foods. I have a pretty good diet already (I am a vegetarian too) but I could cut out more sugar, etc. I am taking 1200 calcium and 2000 vitamin D as well as trying to get a lot of sun (easy here because it's summer). I am also seeing a naturopathic doctor. I will ask about the remedies you posted. I am taking some other homeopathic drops (unda 11, 14, and 240) which are a Belgium remedy for bone strength. I was trying to take kelp powder but it's really awful tasting so I gave it up. I might try to put it in a capsule. I also really appreciate the link you provided. I'm willing to do almost anything (within reason of course) to get better so that I can be the active person/mom that I was before all this happened. The interesting thing is that while my endocrinologist was adamant about the need to stop breastfeeding, I just saw my orthopedist yesterday (who I initially went to see when I was in pain) who thought I should absolutely continue breastfeeding and just be careful. He is also ordering another MRI to figure out why I continue to have hip and lumber pain (especially since an x-ray a month ago did not reveal any fractures). So it sounds like I am on the right path. Thank you again for sharing all your information. I am incredibly appreciative and so glad to have found this community (especially since our condition is so rare or perhaps under-diagnosed). I hope that you also recover quickly. This is a precious time for us all.

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• By jingchenzheng
• Posted August 7, 2009 at 10:23 am
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Hi, Litltopaz, I feel sorry for your six fx of spine. This is first time for me to hear that breastfeeding causes so severe osteoporosis and fx in deed. Anyway, for your age osteoporosis is less common, so you must to do more investigation to find what`s wrong with your body. Don`t lost your faith, you still very young. I believe morden medical technology will make you strong again.

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