TTC #2, BFing a 13month, No cycle yet.

[TheNewMrs]

Am I mad to think I could get pregnant like this?
How do I keep an eye on my fertility if I'm not having cycles? Weaning isn't an option. Opks?

 

[hopefulfor1st]

I'd say u wont ovulate til you stop bfing. Some bfing women get their period back at 6 months but I think its safe to say if u don't get it by then u won't while bfing

 

[MrsSinclair]

It's always possible you could get pregnant, I am breastfeeding my 6 mo son and no cycle yet. I thought I might have been pregnant last week because I got a very faint line on a pregnancy test...it was an evap though. I was concerned that my milk might dry up if I got pregnant, going to see my doc on Monday so I will ask her then. I would love to get pregnant again anytime if I knew I would still be able to breastfeed.

 

[Wishing_well]

I'd say u wont ovulate til you stop bfing. Some bfing women get their period back at 6 months but I think its safe to say if u don't get it by then u won't while bfing

Wrong. I'm breastfeeding my 12 month old and ovulated since my periods returned at 6 months.
My daughter still feeds every 2 hours but at 6 months she went 6 hours without feeding which is what I think kickstarted my cycles.

Maybe a long gap between feeds or even night weaning may help?
I know the feeling - I'm not going to be weaning either but my lp is currently too short to sustain a pregnancy.

 

[hopefulfor1st]

I'd say u wont ovulate til you stop bfing. Some bfing women get their period back at 6 months but I think its safe to say if u don't get it by then u won't while bfing

Wrong. I'm breastfeeding my 12 month old and ovulated since my periods returned at 6 months.
My daughter still feeds every 2 hours but at 6 months she went 6 hours without feeding which is what I think kickstarted my cycles.

Maybe a long gap between feeds or even night weaning may help?
I know the feeling - I'm not going to be weaning either but my lp is currently too short to sustain a pregnancy.

SOME WOMEN.

while this is a generalization, there are some exceptions to the rule

 

[TheNewMrs]

Would temping give me an idea of how my body is working even though I'm not having cycles per-se?

 

[MrsSinclair]

I don't know if temping is worth the effort until you get AF again. It could be months you just don't know...

 

[hopefulfor1st]

In alot of cases the first 1 to cycles are anovulatory to so personally I'd just wait til af returns.
Temping for something that could be years away (if you intend to extended bf ) could be pretty stressful

 

[lw0619]

Am I mad to think I could get pregnant like this?
How do I keep an eye on my fertility if I'm not having cycles? Weaning isn't an option. Opks?

I know all women are different...however bc of my high prolactin, which is what BFing women have (Ive never BFed or been pregnant, but I could actually squeeze nipple and discharge would come out), thats why i am not Oing. Although this very well may not be the case for all woman, it is for some. according to what my docs told me, when your prolactin is high, your other hormones are off (estrogen, LH, etc.) therefore causing you not to O. My FS even used the example once "thats why woman who BF dont TYPICALLY O and are not able to conceive". But again all woman are different!! I would definitely try a longer gap bw feedings like a previous post said. I hope that helps a little bit and i hope youre able to figure it all out GL

 

[TheNewMrs]

I dunno, my DD goes 10 hours at night with out bf, (I recently started wearing a pj top again so I'm sure shes not night nursing!). I guess I'll just need to be patient!

 

[KatyW]

I had my first period on my daughter's first birthday, and I was still breast feeding. What kick started it was weaning for a large portion of the day/ overnight.

 

[Feebie]

My son is 12 months and I still don't have my periods back or ovulation. I read somewhere that longer gaps in feeding or cutting out a feed completely can help kick start things but it hasn't worked for us.
Good luck

 

[.Mrs.B.]

I've just come to the decision to stop BF my 8.5 month old to ttc. I've been adding formula feeds and he has also been babysat for a night but my cycles still have not returned so I think I need to stop completely. Feeling sad for now but having 2 close in age is more important to me than continuing BF.

 

[lw0619]

Am I mad to think I could get pregnant like this?
How do I keep an eye on my fertility if I'm not having cycles? Weaning isn't an option. Opks?

i thought of your post tonight because a friend of mine recently announced she was pregnant. i asked tonight if she was actually TTC bc they just had a baby not even a year ago. She thought she couldnt get pregnant bc she was BFing. So obviously you can. It definitely depends on the woman! However, sadly it ended in miscarriage today. I wondered if progesterone levels were lower because she was BFing. Something to think about.

 

[bumpcrazy]

There is no magic amount of time post partum where if you don't start your period while BFing you won't start at all until you stop BFing. That is false. I have a 12.5 month-old I am still BFing and my periods started back up again when he was 8 months old (once he started going longer stretches without BFing at night, although on average he still nurses every 3-4 hrs, even at night. Those long stretches just kickstarted my period and then he started sleeping crappy again lol). I don't know if this helps you, but I can tell you what my cycles were like from when AF came back (I can tell you it is very similar to a lot of moms in my situation since I am in a facebook group of women who had babies the same month as me). First cycle=45 days long. Second cycle=38 days long and I started using my clear blue fertility monitor (VERY accurate) this cycle. I never got a peak reading (assuming I didn't ovulate) for the first 2 cycles I used the monitor (meaning my 2nd and 3rd cycles post partum). 3rd cycle I finally ovulated (a week after my LO turned 1!) and now I am in the 2 week wait and I'm pretty sure I'm pregnant. Sorry this is so long, my point is that I tend to obsess over TTC and I would be insane by now if I had started worrying about all this before I even got my period back. I would not stress until AF comes back to save your sanity, but that is just me. I bet it won't be long now!

 

[bumpcrazy]

Oh heavens I haven't been on this site in forever, I need to update my signature!

 

[TheNewMrs]

I guess I need to just wait till I get the cycles back then ....
Thanks for the responses. x