Ever had to wean a baby?

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Cholderby
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Ever had to wean a baby?

Post by Cholderby »

I've decided to do dmds, so I've had to go from his never having had a bottle to full time bottles and formula. The baby is 9 months and enthusiastically eating solids. He is "mildly tolerant" of breast milk in a bottle during the day and not at all at night. I have maybe a dozen bottles pumped and frozen, but I didn't want to ramp up my supply only to quit.

I know there are many who don't use dmds or they choose to nurse on copaxone. My thinking is that, if I had my first big exacerbation while nursing, then the protective effect of nursing either isn't enough or isn't there at all. I have three other kids to care for as well as to educate (while homeschooling is definitely our choice, it is also our only viable option based on where we live and our finances) and I have to balance their needs with the baby's.

I could nurse on copaxone, I suppose, but I know myself well enough to know that I'd wonder if the drug had some effect on the baby for years to come. He's big, he's healthy, he'll be fine on formula for a couple of months. Plus I'm hoping that he might sleep better at night which would improve my health enormously.

At first I tried to switch out one feeding at a time from nursing to a bottle. He countered by nursing all night long. My current plan is to go cold turkey next Friday with my husband taking him at night and I'll bottle feed during the day. Unless maybe someone else has a better suggestion?

I nursed the previous three for two years each until they self-weaned so I have no previous experience withy this.

Anyone btdt? The pro-nursing folks just try to talk me out of weaning and the bottle feeding people have no experience with an exclusively breasted 9 month old.
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NHE
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Re: Ever had to wean a baby?

Post by NHE »

This study found that there was no benefit from Ifn-beta or Copaxone in preventing a postpartum relapse.

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/me ... ts/P06.192
...resuming treatment with bIFN or GA even as early as 2 weeks postpartum did not decreased the risk of relapse in the 2 years postpartum compared with women who resumed treatment later in the postpartum year (p=0.90 unadjusted; PS-adjusted HR=1.2, 95%CI=0.59-2.56, p=0.6).

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that starting bIFN or GA even within two weeks postpartum does not reduce the risk of postpartum relapses. Our findings call into question the benefit of early resumption of MS treatments in lieu of breastfeeding and should be confirmed in a larger study.
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Lainie
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Re: Ever had to wean a baby?

Post by Lainie »

I was diagnosed after my son was born, and I weaned him at 10 months to go on Avonex. (I am now on Tysabri.) it was a tough choice, but I had my first MS attack during pregnancy, and found that breastfeeding had NO protective effect against MS - i was getting worse and worse while breastfeeding. I made the choice I felt was best for my baby - to take care of his mom.
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