I thought men got women pregnant. Now I come to find out all along it was iodine. Learn something new every day I guess. Now we know why god made it so scarce, otherwise all the women would be prego all the time.

ideally, a woman would be Iodine sufficient and have all the detox from its presence out of the way before pregnancy. for anyone else, the level of Iodine supplementation during pregnancy is really going to vary. i would think the benchmark for this would be the level just under that which causes detox symptoms. this may be very little or it could be a larger amount.

regardless, any woman supplementing Iodine while pregnant is fortunate indeed. it is now highly recommended that the RDA of 150mcg be taken daily throughout pregnancy by the most mainstream of experts, including governments. we all know that this number is extremely low, but it is certainly better than nothing. should supplementation take place? you bet your bippy it should. it is an essential part of good prenatal care.

congratulations!

I was taking 4 drops before I got pregnant and decided I would take just one. However, I am taking 2 drops about 5 days a week.

Congratulations, and yes, you've GOT to get your iodine! Agree with Trap and Pjay here. Just in case your studies have not taken you this far, here's a couple of links, Iodine is critical, for child AND mother:

13.5 IQ points difference between iodine-sufficient children and Iodine DEFICIENT children:


//www.curezone.org/forums/fm.asp?i=1107757#i


Iodine deficiency in the child

"There is no evidence that the minor impairment of thyroid function evidenced in
mothers and neonates in conditions of mild Iodine deficiency clearly affects the intellectual development of the children. However, Aghini-Lombardi et al. (44) reported that in children aged 6-10 years in an area in Tuscany who had mild iodine deficiency (64 μg iodine/day), the reaction time was delayed compared with matched controls from an iodine sufficient area (142 μg iodine/day). The cognitive abilities of the children were not affected. Similarly, it was reported that in an area of Southern Spain with mild iodine deficiency (median urinary iodine of 90 μg/L), the intelligence quotient (IQ) was significantly higher in children with urinary iodine levels above 100 μg/L (44bis).

Additional investigations conducted in areas with moderate iodine deficiency have
also demonstrated the presence of definite abnormalities in the psychoneuromotor
and intellectual development of children and adults who are clinically euthyroid but
who do not exhibit the other signs and symptoms of endemic cretinism, that is the
most severe form of brain damage caused by iodine deficiency. These studies are
summarized in Table 4.

The impairment of intellectual development in these conditions represents the longterm consequence of transient neonatal hypothyroidism (45, 46). In severe iodine deficiency, the anomalies found in the «normal population» are of the
same type, although more frequent and more severe than the ones found in moderate
iodine deficiency. The frequency distribution of IQ in apparently normal children in
such conditions is shifted towards low values as compared to matched controls who
were not exposed to iodine deficiency during the critical period of brain development
because of correction of the deficiency in the mothers before or during early gestation (47-49). More globally, in their meta-analysis of 19 studies on neuromotor and cognitive functions in conditions of moderate to severe iodine deficiency, Bleichrodt and Born (50) concluded that iodine deficiency resulted in a loss of 13.5 IQ points at the level of the global population."


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iodine-deficient mothers, low milk supply & post-partum depression


http://allonhealth.com/health-news/breastfeeding-and-thyroid.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. Fortunately response is often rapid, within a week to thyroid hormone and anti-depressants.

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.

(1) Pitt-Rivers R, Tata JR. Thyroid hormones. 1st ed. London: Pergamon, 1959. page 86-88.
(2) Moon RC. Influence of graded thyroxine levels on mammary gland growth. Amer J Physiol 1962; 203:942-946.

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& a FAQ on iodine & pregnancy:


//www.curezone.org/faq/q.asp?a=13,281,2962&q=600


:)