الفهرس 
PHYSIOLOGY OF LACTATIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
SUMMARY
P
regnancy during breastfeeding is common in Egypt and is often unintended. There is great potential for using lactation as a method of contraception in some developing countries.
Breastfeeding provide age-specific nutrients, immunological factors and antibacterial substances. The benefits of breastfeeding to both mother and infant are likely long term and include lower risk of breast cancer and increased adult intelligence.
Some studies have shown that when pregnancy and lactation occur simultaneously the risk of depletion of basic nutrient stores in the mother and consequently affection of the course of pregnancy and delivery might increase particularly among women with substandard nutrition.
There has been a little research into the association between breast feeding during pregnancy (BPD) and maternal, child or pregnancy outcomes, as a result the available data regarding effect of pregnancy-lactation overlap on subsequent pregnancy outcome are limited and conflicting.
In this study, we aimed to find more answers about the effect of the pregnancy-lactation overlap on the maternal and fetal outcome as a result of continuation of breastfeeding during pregnancy.
This retrospective cohort study was conducted at tertiary care hospital at Ain Shams University hospitals and performed on total 110 women from August 2021 till February 2022.
The current study revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between the studied groups regarding age, parity and interpregnancy gap (p values = 0.780, 0.504, 0.320) respectively.
Our study results revealed that the need to parenteral iron infusion was statistically significantly more frequent among pregnancy during lactation group (p value=0.001) with no statistically significant differences as regards the need to blood transfusion (p value=0.999).
Consequently, maternal malnutrition of iron deficiency anemia was statistically significantly more frequent among pregnancy during lactation group.
As regards maternal complications, our study results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between the studied groups regarding abruptio placenta, pregnancy induced hypertension, gestational diabetes and premature rupture of membranes, moreover there were no recorded miscarriage cases. (p values = 0.679, 0.348, 0.618, 0.679) respectively.
As regards Fetal complications, our study results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences between the studied groups regarding preterm delivery and birth weight (p values = 0.999, 0.075) respectively. Consequently, fetal growth restriction was non-significantly found between both groups (p value=0.999).
We concluded that Pregnancy during breastfeeding is significantly associated with an increase in the prevalence of maternal nutritional anemia which may be related to the low educational level of women in developing country of Egypt with no association or significant differences with obstetric complications of GDM, Hypertensive disorders or preterm labor and not associated with fetal complications of low birth weight or fetal growth restrictions.
As a result, breastfeeding during pregnancy is not alarming against pregnancy as regards adverse maternal and fetal outcomes.
CONCLUSION
S
o to answer the question that raised a major conflict among obstetricians , pediatricians and socially wise.
And to answer women who were wondering whether they need to stop breastfeeding if they got pregnant and who were advised to stop breast feeding if they got pregnant.
Pregnancy during breastfeeding is not alarming against the concurrent pregnancy as regards adverse pregnancy outcomes.
There were no association or significant differences with obstetric complications of GDM, Hypertensive disorders or preterm labor nor fetal complications of low birth weight or fetal growth restrictions.
The only significant data found was the higher prevalence of maternal nutritional anemia in the cases who overlapped pregnancy and lactation and this may be related to the low educational and social level as well as low nutritional awareness of women in the developing countries like Egypt.
Consequently, nutritional education and consultation should be offered to all women before and during pregnancy and during lactation and women should be better educated about the benefits and importance of breastfeeding.
RECOMMENDATIONS
N
utritional education and consultation should be offered to all women before and during pregnancy and during lactation.
Physicians should stress on the importance of iron supplementations in women who are lactating during pregnancy and to strictly follow up Hb level.
Women should be better educated about the benefits and importance of breastfeeding.