Trouble with fertility after extended bf'ing?

[mara16jade]

I bf my son for 21 months (he's now 24 months). I got my period back and it was pretty darn normal starting at 6 months.

But here's the weird thing, after I stopped nursing at 21 months, my cycles have now started to get all sorts of weird. Irregular, more painful and my opks are only positive for maybe 24 hrs. The year before conceiving my son, and then from 6 months after he was born, up until 3 months ago, I'd always get 2 solid days of +opks. And I'd O around cd11-12. These past 3 months I'm O'ing at cd10 (possibly cd9). I just had a 22/23 day cycle.

Has anyone dealt with this? I thought my periods were regulated after nursing for so long, but I stop nursing and things go all over the place. It could be a coincidence I suppose. Help?

 

[noon_child]

Stopping breastfeeding played havoc with my cycle even though I was on the hormonal coil and despite us having been on only one feed a day for months. I'd say I had 6months of irregular bleeding that could be either shorter or longer than usual. It then went back to normal (which was no periods because I was on the hormonal coil).

 

[mara16jade]

That's crazy! I had no idea stopping could mess up your cycle! We were nursing only 1x a day (for bedtime) for a few months too. Ugh....

Thank you for your reply!

 

[noon_child]

I couldn't be sure it was definitely that, but nothing else fit. I had swabs and blood tests and all came back clear. My doctor said maybe my coil was running out of hormones but it was a bit early for that, and then suddenly I went back to no periods so I don't really think it could have been the coil running out because then I'd have kept having periods.

 

[Marumi]

Any sort of hormonal change (in your case weaning) can seem more harsh if your hormones are not perfectly balanced. Most women these days have at least a slight hormonal imbalance (environmental factors, food, cosmetics, birth control).
Some hormones build up over time (estrogen), while others may not be produced enough (progesterone). After pregnancy it is common to deal with estrogen dominance since with all these factors the body is unable to properly detox.
It may balance itself out eventually. For me it didn't and even got worse. So I took supplements to help rid my body of excess estrogen:
DIM - very high dose of cruciferous vegetables to detox excess estrogen.
Milk Thistle - Liver detox, liver is important for proper hormone function.
Vitex - Pituitary Gland.
Burdock Root - Said to cleanse the blood.
My hormones were doing much better after 1 month and perfect after 3. I took all these for 6 months and DIM for a year.