PCOS, Metformin and Breastfeeding

It's an L1 - the safest to take.

I breastfeed and take it too.

I took it for three months of my first pregnancy. I was told it would not harm the baby...and our son was perfect. My doctor and I discussed whether or not I should continue with it after my pregnancy. I was told that it does pass through to the baby during breastfeeding, but the concentration is extremely low and poses no risk to the baby. I was also told that sometimes it is prescribed to women with PCOS to help increase milk supply.

As far as weight loss, mine was minimal. But initially I did lose some weight (5-8 pounds). My MIL has been on it for a long time due to diabetes. At first she was on regular Metformin. She always said that obviously everyone should lose weight on Metformin because of the constant diarrhea. ;) Once she switched to extended release, she no longer had that side effect, but it has not helped her lose any weight. It causes weight loss for some, but many don't lose any weight at all.

You can look up the medication on Dr Hale's website here http://www.infantrisk.com/ too see if it is in fact safe.
I do not have any experience with the medication so I can not offer any insite on that.

I'm glad you asked this question--I'm pregnant with #3 and would love to go on Metformin. I was on it for the first 12 weeks of my first pregnancy, in order to prevent miscarriage (which fortunately has not been a problem for me, but you never know). My endocrinologist is VERY conservative. He wouldn't do any labs or prescribe any meds for me postpartum until after I weaned, and he wanted me to wean "sooner rather than later." Well, I nursed my son until he was 2, at which point I was prego with my daughter. And I nursed her until 2, and soon after became pregnant with this baby. At one point, my overriding concern was being able to have children. But the weight is starting to pile up, and it's always an uphill battle postpartum. I think the metformin would help because it worked for me in the past, but I know my doc won't do it. He believes it is just an open case--that there weren't comprehensive studies performed--the one study that was done only involved a few participants. Having said that, my sis went on metformin while nursing--her son is 2 1/2 and seems fine. Sorry for this long post. Wondering though if you'd be willing to share the name of your doc? Mine is all the way in Reading, PA and, as I said, I know he won't do anything for me until I wean.

Sounds safe to me-- I looked it up at the National Institutes of Health's LactMed database

http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/search/f?./temp/~vR...