Pitocin = oxytocin = our bodies naturally produce it

[klone]

Oxytocin is something our bodies naturally produce. It is what cause the uturus to contract, ad well as the tiny muscle in our breast tissue that causes the milk to squirt out when you are breastfeeding. Your body produces oxytocin in abundance throughout pregnancy. Would it make sense that it teratogenic?

[klone, MSN, RN]

I remember breast feeding my then 9 month old son. I went to the doctors office for a checkup because I was feeling tired all the time. The doctor told me honey you're tired because you're breast feeding and you're also pregnant!!!! Omg!!!!!! She immediately told me to stop breast feeding my son. So now I'm wondering if I could have kept breast feeding my son. This website is so awesome you learn so much all the time on here.

When you're pregnant, your milk generally dries up by around 12 weeks. This is your body's way of preserving your energy stores for your growing fetus and making sure all of your calories goes where it needs to go. The body is very efficient, and thousands of years of evolution generally knows what it's doing. Pregnant women are generally tired all the time. That's pretty normal.

[atkpop]

You can most cetainly breastfeed throughout a pregnancy! If an OB was telling me otherwise I'd seek a second opinion, especially if your older child was only 9 months old. AAP makes the "recommendation of exclusive breastfeeding for about 6 months, followed by continued breastfeeding as complementary foods are introduced, with continuation of breastfeeding for 1 year or longer as mutually desired by mother and infant."

When I was trying to get pregnant with baby #2 the doctor told me to stop breastfeeding. I ignored her advice as I felt it was unfounded and was pregnant withing two months. Shortly after I got pregnant my son stopped nursing on his own (he was well over a year at this point) and I assume it was because the taste or quantity had changed. I know others that successfully breastfed through an entire pregnancy (including my mother when she was pregnant with me).

[klone, MSN, RN]

Not only do women breastfeed through pregnancy, but also go on to tandem nurse. I did that with my older two (my son was 4 1/2 and my daughter was 2 when my son weaned, so I tandem nursed for 2 1/2 years).

A general rule of thumb is that if it's safe to have sex during the pregnancy, then it's safe to breastfeed.

[Nurse2b7337]

Thanks for the input guys! I really hated to stop breast feeding my son but I was young. I just wanted to follow the doctors orders. Btw....my daughter whom I was pregnant with breastfed for almost 2 yrs!!! Lol!!

[futurehomebirthcnm]

Pitocin is NOT oxytocin. Oxytocin is regulated by brain and various hormonal chains, and it's extremely unlikely to cause adverse effects.

Pitocin, while similar in chemical structure to oxytocin, isn't exactly the same, and it's introduced directly into the blood supply, so it doesn't act the same. You don't have the normal biofeedback loop like you would with oxytocin, so there's more of a chance of a woman having too much Pitocin in her system. That's why there's more of a chance of cord compression, fetal distress, and uterine rupture with Pitocin than a woman laboring naturally.

[klone, MSN, RN]

Pitocin is a synthetic form of oxytocin, and yes, it is chemical structurally exactly the same as the oxytocin our pituitary glands produce.

It is true that when it is exogenously given, there is a higher risk of adverse effects, but that's not what we're discussing. Someone asked if Pitocin is teratogenic. My response is no, that's ridiculous, for the following reasons.

If you want to discuss the risks of induction, I'm happy to do so, but that was not the point of this thread.

[dariah]

We treat our leftover pitocin like chemo, careful to use gloves and dispose of in black boxes. Maybe this got someone confused?