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Research seems to indicate that contraceptives which contain only progestin are generally considered safe for women even when taken daily as pills for several years.

But my wife conceived while taking the pill (maybe because she forgot one day) and later had a miscarriage. At that point she stopped taking the pill and several months later she concieved again and gave birth to a healthy baby (although during the pregnancy some doctors were worried that the fetus growth was not sufficient).

Now that the baby is born, she is reluctant to go back on the pill. She thinks there are healthy risks/side effects for her, the newborn and any future children we may have.

Are these fears warranted? In other words are there any significant and provable risks to a woman, her womb and/or her breastfed infant in using hormone based contraceptives?

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    Can you specify whether you are also asking about "health risks for... the newborn"? I think asking about health risks to the woman, the already born baby (being breastfed?), and a pregnancy is making this question a bit broad. Would you consider focusing it? You can always post another question for the other parts.
    – YviDe
    Mar 25, 2016 at 15:59
  • I really am asking about all three, if someone can answer for even one that would be helpful. I edited the question to clarify this point.
    – AbuMariam
    Mar 25, 2016 at 22:10

1 Answer 1

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Yes.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=ORAL+CONTRACEPTIVES+AND+MOOD%2FSEXUAL+DISORDERS+IN+WOMEN

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24014598

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29145752

Increased risk of depression, sexual dysfunction, breast cancer, nutritional deficiencies, stroke, blood clots among other issues.

Some studies have also shown that the hormones going into the water supply effect male fertility as well as fish fertility:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/birth-control-in-water-supply/

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160304092230.htm

Hormonal contraceptives are not recommended during breastfeeding because it can decrease the milk supply and the hormones will pass into the breastmilk and the baby will drink the hormones. Can you imagine a baby boy drinking estrogen?

Physicians’ desk reference 2005. 59th ed. Montvale, N.J.:Thompson PDR, 2005. The Physicians’ Desk Reference advises that a nursing mother should not use oral contraceptives but should use other forms of contraception until she has completely weaned her infant.

As for becoming pregnant on the pill... more research is needed: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4703703/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/744667 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5576004 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4400183/

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    Hi, while your answer is greatly appreciated, it would be awesome if you could just get small extracts from each study you cite (or just one extract and then going on to say that these studies support the idea as well). This way, your answer is easily verifiable. Also, because links rot eventually, it would be great if you could cite the papers in any style you want (APA, or just title + author etc.). Please ping me when you've edited the post so that I can upvote!
    – Narusan
    Jun 20, 2018 at 15:22
  • Do you have any advice on how I can do that? Jul 17, 2018 at 8:07
  • Perhaps you might be interested in reading on meta this and that You'll find some inspiration on suggested formats there… Sep 30, 2018 at 17:59

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