Hormonal IUDs safe during lactation: study

Having a hormonal intrauterine device (IUD) implanted immediately after birth does not affect a woman's ability to lactate and breastfeed, according to a study.
"Early placement of a hormonal IUD is a safe, long-term birth control method that does not negatively affect women who want to breastfeed their baby," said David Turok, associate professor at University of Utah Health in the US.
Medical practitioners often recommend that mothers delay receiving an IUD for several weeks after delivery to ensure the hormones do not interfere with normal lactation, but until now the approach had remained largely untested.
The new research found that women's milk did not come in later if they received a hormonal IUD immediately after giving birth compared to women who received the same type of IUD several weeks after delivery.

Eight weeks after delivery, women with IUDs continued to breastfeed equally as well as women who did not have the birth control.
The researchers carried out the study by randomising participants into two groups: 132 women received a hormonal IUD within 30 minutes of delivery and 127 women received a hormonal IUD 4 to 12 weeks after delivery.

The one disadvantage to early IUD placement is an increased potential for the device to be dislodged, researchers said.
Women who had IUDs placed immediately after birth had a higher rate of losing the birth control device (19 per cent) compared to the women who received them later (2 per cent).

However, the majority of women in the study who lost the IUD returned to their medical provider to receive another device (71 per cent).
The idea of receiving an IUD shortly after delivery appeals to many women.
"New mothers have to juggle the competing priorities of a new or growing family, and it is difficult to schedule postpartum appointments," said Jessica Sanders, research assistant professor at U of U Health.
"This study shows no difference in breastfeeding outcomes (for women in either group), which is critically important in reassuring women and advocates that a hormonal IUD empowers women to avoid unintended pregnancy and to successfully breastfeed their infants," said Eve Espey, from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in the US.

"We hope this study contributes to improving access to this highly safe and effective long-term contraceptive method," said Espey.
The study was published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.