RE: breastfeeding and iodine

[Guest guest]

Fascinating story, . I had no idea that iodine could affect whether there was milk available for breast feeding. Thanks for sharing with us your personal research!

Zoe

I jsut wanted to post my experience with taking iodine (kelp tabletsactually) and breastfeeding.I have a 5 year old son. With him, I had chronic problems withbreastmilk supply, and I had to supplement him with formula. WheneverI would become a little more tired or get a bit sick, I would have mymilk supply "crash". In fact, my overall health and energy levels wereterrible. It meant that I weaned my son much earlier than I would haveliked. Now he has developed allergies -- which can be contributed to byformula feeding and not exclusive breastfeeding.I am also the mother of a 4 month old daughter. I started to have thesame problems -- not quite enough supply, very low energy, gettingcold. I had already discovered coconut oil for the thyroid and Istarted taking more of that, but it wasn't clearing up the problem.Then, I decided to take a little of an iodine supplement I had...(This was before I found this group.)Lo and behold, I had lots of milk! So I tried not taking the iodinefor a day or two, and I was right back to having to supplement mydaughter. Since then, I have been taking iodine (in the form of kelptablets).I started at a relatively lower dosage (3 tablets a day) and worked myway up. I'm now taking about 12 tablets at day for a total of about 6mg of iodine.Now, I know that people have said that you shouldn't take iodine andnurse because of detoxing. However, as long as you are passing iodinein the milk as well as any detox byproducts, isn't your child gettingwhat they need to clear the toxins? In any case, I will continue to do what I'm doing because if I don't,it means breastfeeding will not work, and I'd rather nurse than not. Just my two cents...

[Guest guest]

>From: " Lise " <moniquelise@...>

>Reply-iodine

>iodine

>Subject: breastfeeding and iodine

>Date: Fri, 09 Jun 2006 14:16:02 -0000

>

>I've been lurking for awhile and reading a lot and learning...

>

>I jsut wanted to post my experience with taking iodine (kelp tablets

>actually) and breastfeeding.

A comment from Dr. Derry on that -

http://thyroid.about.com/library/derry/bl12.htm

Post partum thyroid dysfunction is common especially in women with

Hashimoto's thyroid inflammation. This can express itself as mild

depressions through to full paranoid delusions and psychotic behavior. With

the help of anti-depressants and thyroid most people can be brought out of

this quite quickly. One of my most serious cases of mine involved

frightening thoughts by the mother about harming her baby. She buried all of

her kitchen utensils in the back yard. Fortunately she responded rapidly

within a week to thyroid hormone and anti-depressants. From there she went

on to do well.

During the pregnancy the demands for thyroid hormone and iodine are more

than normal. The placenta also puts out a hormone to make the thyroid work

more. So when the stress of the pregnancy is removed the thyroid may end up

partially burned out. So just when the mother needs to cope well (needs

thyroid hormone) she is left with a worn out thyroid.

Adequate thyroid hormone is essential for initiating breast feeding and this

is where that problem comes from. All mammals need thyroid to initiate

breast feeding and it is most extreme in the cat. During the immediate post

partum period the cat totally empties its thyroid in order to start breast

feeding. (1) As well thyroid hormone initiates and controls the last

enzymatic process in the breast to make milk.

The thyroid hormone and thyroid gland together with iodine are the most

important factors by far for completion of a normal pregnancy and normal

baby. Iodine is put into the mother's milk by the lactating breast to levels

that are 30 times the levels in the mother's blood. Iodine still has

important functions in the child's brain development after birth. Most

likely the iodine in the mother's milk is the same function as the iodine in

pregnancy which is ensure that the natural death of cells occurs (apoptois).

The death of many cells in the brain and elsewhere during development is an

important function. Newer evolutionary parts of the brain replace older

ones. Because there is limited space in the skull some cells have to die off

to make room for the more evolutionary modern cells. It has been estimated

that about 80 percent of the brain tissue is replaced during development in

this manner.

There is an increased need for thyroid hormone and iodine during pregnancy.

Thus each pregnancy is a load on the thyroid function which not every

women's thyroid gland carries out adequately. As thyroid is important for

adolescence, normal menstruation, pregnancies and menopause it is not

surprising the females have a much higher incidence of thyroid dysfunction.

So I feel poor milk production in women with a history of thyroid

dysfunction is likely related to low blood levels of thyroid hormone. As

breast feeding is so important to the child and mother it seems important to

check this out at the time.

It is likely that if thyroid hormone is given to a mother with breast

feeding problems the problems would disappear quickly within a week.

Hope this helps answer your question.

*******************************

Skipper

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[Guest guest]

et al. I don't want anyone to get the wrong

impression about what I think. I believe that Iodine

supplementation is good and needed. I am just not of the

belief that the source of Iodine deficiency is due to a lack

of Iodine pills/drugs. If it were it would mean that every

human being on the planet who has ever lived from the

beginning of our species on this planet has been iodine

deficient. That would amount to billions and billions of

people and it's an absurd postulation.

There are many reasons for iodine deficiency. Some have

to do with an individuals inate ability to absorb iodine from

the food in their environment. With others it has to do with

hormonal imbalances that do not allow them to maintain normal

levels of iodine. With still others it may have to do with

various environmental factors. Factors like the thousands of

manmade chemicals that exist in the environment today that

did not exist in the environment just 100 years ago. Then

there are probably a dozen other factors I have not even

thought of.

Having the ability of test for iodine levels is an

advancement. Having the ability to supplement with iodine in

pill form when necessary is also an advancement and we are

lucky to live in the times that we do to benefit from such

advancements. However, I take issue with those who want to

attempt to corral us all into believing that the only way to

balance our hormones ane iodine intake is via manmade drugs

or that we need someone trained in medicine to tell us how

and what to eat. The fact is that most doctors and other

medically trained people do not know the first thing about

nutrition or natural sources of iodine. They do not study

such things in medical school and have no time to once they

graduate.

Back in the 1930's Vitamin B12 shots were all the rage

in the U.S.. Everyone was getting them and doctors told the

public they were the best thing since sliced bread. Then it

was figured out how to put B12 into pill form . After that

doctors stopped talking about B12 entirely and went on to the

next medical fad that they had control over. B12 meant

nothing once you could go to your local drug store and buy it

yourself over the counter. I accept that is just the way

things are. There is nothing sinister about it, it's simple

human nature and nothing more.

The main point i'm trying to make is that there are

natural sources of iodine in the food supply and we should

stop attempting to make up agruements against using them as

they are what the human race depended on for the past 300

thousand years.

I am all for medical advancement and I am all for

iodine supplementation and I am all for medical testing of

iodine and levels of other minerals, vitamins, hormones etc.

Afterall, we now live in an era of processed food where we

are no longer tied to the land and we actually need to do

these things as we cannot take for granted any longer that we

are getting the nutrients we need from our food.

I am a believer and I like this group very much. I love

all the posts i've been reading and I love hearing all of the

various and intelligent points of view. I think my last post

may have given an impression I did not intend to convey.

Thanks to all of you, bob

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