Hoping for some help... TTC while breastfeeding

[LunarSpoon]

Hoping some of you can offer some input (posted a similarish thread in Baby Club but figured it was most pertinent here!!)

We very much would like to try for #2 between now and when DS is 9 months old (that's our window of opportunity due to a change in DH's medical insurance at work down the road.) That gives us less that 6 months to conceive (took 6 months for DS!)

I'm a little worried that EBF is preventing ovulation or at the very least messing with my cycles. Prior to childbirth I was a textbook 28 day cycle, and I've had I believe 3 periods since DS birth averaging about 19 days. Sorry if tmi, but the blessing has also changed... lots of.thin bright red blood as opposed to a darker flow.

To further complicate things, we want to gender sway with Shettles for a girl (but just as happy with a boy.) I have cheapie opks, but to be honest... the chances of me having time and/or remembering to pee on one every day are very slim!

Sooooo... any of you lovely ladies conceive whilst breastfeeding? What were your cycles like? Any way to regulate my cycles while continuing to breastfeed?

Thanks in advance!

 

[misspriss]

I conceived while breastfeeding, but my child is much older. I got my cycles back at 8 months PP, they were highly irregular. I conceived at 15 months PP (by accident, we were avoiding) but it ended in a MC. I conceived (planned) at 18 months PP.

My cycle never went back to what it was pre-pregnancy.

 

[DolceBella]

If you're getting your period, you're probably ovulating. But it does sound very irregular. OPKs might be the only way to figure it out. I didn't even get a period back for 15 months with my first, and 12 months with my second. If you cut back on breastfeeding for the sake of conceiving, it could end up a slippery slope. You may have to figure out what the bigger priority is for you. Fingers crossed you find that eggy with OPKs!! Good luck!