Reply to Weaning - PPA trigger?

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[quote=Anonymous]Yes. My kid weaned on her own without me initiating it, and while I pumped to try and slow the process down, the hormone crash from no longer actually nursing triggered a PPD relapse for me that was worse than my original PPD.

I do think this could have been mitigated if I'd weaned with my kid, stepping down our nursing sessions slowly over time. We literally went from 3-4 sessions a day to 2 and then to 0 over the course of two weeks. It was really fast and I think the hormone issue was compounded by some emotions around feeling rejected by my baby and suddenly losing a bonding activity that had been one of the first ways we'd bonded when she was a newborn. It was a wave of intense emotions happening right at my hormones went nuts. Not great.

If you are worried, I'd talk to a lactation consultant and just look to step down slowly, maybe over the course of a couple months. I'd also think about your interactions with your baby and how you can how you can shift from nursing to other bonding activities to ease that transition for you. Obviously snuggling with your baby at bedtime or in the morning won't replace breastfeeding hormones, but it does provide you with oxytocin rushes that can help. One thing I did during this time was put my baby in the carrier instead of the stroller more often (she loved the carrier so this was nice for both of us, not just for me). That closeness during non-nursing times helped me regulate my emotional response to our changing relationship and ultimately helped me get through the PPD.

Good luck! It's good you are thinking about this in advance. I had no idea that weaning would trigger my PPD and didn't realize what was happening at first. It was a relief to understand that I was having a hormonal response, not just an emotional one, and thankfully I was able to work with the therapist I'd seen for the first bout of PPD to get through it.[/quote]

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