TTC/Pregnancy while Breastfeeding and Tandem Nursing: Information and Support

[soph77]

Well my breastfeeding journey has come to an end Milk has dried up and Theo won't touch it any more. He just bites! I've put him on formula and he is soooo much happier and content. He has been grumpy and needy the last few weeks, turns out he was so hungry! I am sad, but I know that this is what is best for Theo. He needs nutrients and I didn't have any mroe to give.

 

[3boys]

hey guys im hoping my af returns soon and i was wondering what was the average length of time you had to wait for first af? my baby only nurses about once or twice a day the rest is formula. thanks

 

[3boys]

and one other question if you dont mind, i had ewcm yesterday for the first time since Jacob was born would this be an indication of ovulation or can you have ewcm while bfing and it not mean anything? any help would be greatly appreciated.x x

 

[Tacey]

Can't really help on the AF front as it was 19 months before mine came and I wasn't fertile until 2 years after birth. I assume that's because she was a frequent feeder and nursed through the night too. I'd expect it sooner if you're not nursing that much. The EWCM appeared for me a couple of months before my period came. I didn't actually ovulate, but it was like my body was gearing up for it. Good luck!

 

[cookielucylou]

I think af come back at about 6 months for us, i dont know when i become fertile again though as it took us 9months of actually trying to get pregnant again when DS was about 15months.

 

[elohcin]

hey guys im hoping my af returns soon and i was wondering what was the average length of time you had to wait for first af? my baby only nurses about once or twice a day the rest is formula. thanks

This isn't a fair question. LOL Mine has never come back later than 10.5 months, even while tandem nursing, and even when TRIandem nursing it was back at 3 months (though anovulatory until again, 10ish months). I nurse around the clock, we co-sleep, rarely use paci's, etc, etc. Boo.

 

[elohcin]

and one other question if you dont mind, i had ewcm yesterday for the first time since Jacob was born would this be an indication of ovulation or can you have ewcm while bfing and it not mean anything? any help would be greatly appreciated.x x

Could be! If anything, it sounds like your body is at least ATTEMPTING to cycle, so keep an eye out! Do you chart temps? That would probably be the most telling.

 

[roomaloo]

Don't feel too bad, mine feeds about every 3 hours day and night and I co sleep and I got mine back at 7 months. Was quite a surprise!

 

[caro103]

4 months pp for me that was a nasty shock , hopefully it's on its way back with ewcm, have you done any opk's? xx

 

[3boys]

no havent done any opks/temps yet as we are not really trying, when we ttc it gets a bit obsessive so its better for me to be more laid back about it. But with my hormones being all over the place with bfing im sick of always thinking i might be pregnant and spending a fortune on tests so at least if af came back i would know where i stood from month to month if you know what i mean.

 

[caro103]

no havent done any opks/temps yet as we are not really trying, when we ttc it gets a bit obsessive so its better for me to be more laid back about it. But with my hormones being all over the place with bfing im sick of always thinking i might be pregnant and spending a fortune on tests so at least if af came back i would know where i stood from month to month if you know what i mean.

yeah def, fx'ed it is on it's way back (unless you catch that 1st egg ), why not get some IC's in the meantime so you're not spending loads? xx

 

[summer rain]

I can't take another night like last night in the wee small hours of the morning LO woke up and decided he wanted 'diddy' I wouldn't normally mind but he kept chopping and changing sides and it felt quite agitating plus he was latching lazily and one of his lower 'fangy' teeth is coming thru atm so that was snagging on me. In the end I pulled him off and he started going crazy shouting and arching his back like a full blown tantrum, my poor OH works until 3 or 4am so needed his sleep. Usually LO sleeps through or at most wakes for a 5 minute feed but since I got pregnant (I'm about 8 weeks now) he's wanted to feed more not less and he keeps saying yum and smacking his lips like my milk taste changed for the better or something? xx

 

[Tacey]

I can't take another night like last night in the wee small hours of the morning LO woke up and decided he wanted 'diddy' I wouldn't normally mind but he kept chopping and changing sides and it felt quite agitating plus he was latching lazily and one of his lower 'fangy' teeth is coming thru atm so that was snagging on me. In the end I pulled him off and he started going crazy shouting and arching his back like a full blown tantrum, my poor OH works until 3 or 4am so needed his sleep. Usually LO sleeps through or at most wakes for a 5 minute feed but since I got pregnant (I'm about 8 weeks now) he's wanted to feed more not less and he keeps saying yum and smacking his lips like my milk taste changed for the better or something? xx

Sorry you're going through it. We had just the same thing. Alice happily nursed through my milk dwindling, going completely, and then the colostrum. We decided to night wean shortly after I got pregnant, and put in some pretty rigid boundaries in the day as I had really awful nursing aversion.

 

[cookielucylou]

I was told yesterday that the milk is richer and sweeter during pregnancy so older nursings do enjoy it more-we are going through a very similar thing at the moment. My lo always changes sides throughout feeding, it also drives me mad through the night as i cant sleep again until he is done.

 

[mumandco]

My lo also swaps sides about 10x per feed its part of the reason we are trying to stop co sleeping as otherwise I get no sleep.
He wakes every 2 1/2 hours for milk in the night Any tips to try and get him go longer? He's 2 so he's not a little baby anymore.

Keep wondering if and when my milk supply is going to drop as so far I haven't noticed a change

 

[NDH]

I've started reading this thread (got 18 pages in) but decided its too long lol.

I have a 9 month old DD and am pregnant with #2.

Cycles came back about 3.5months PP and were pretty regular from the onset - 27-30 days, but I wasn't tracking ovulation. We were NTNP from when my cycles returned.

AF was due September 2ish and I spent the next two weeks testing - all negatives. I started leaking milk again, spraying even, and it hurt a bit to feed her. I hadn't leaked in months and had never sprayed, so started wondering it it was a pregnancy symptom, but I still kept getting bfns for a week. At that point I assumed I must just have had an anovulatory cycle due to breastfeeding and gave up testing. Roll on October 3, I had now missed two cycles so tested again and got a strong positive! A week later I saw my go who sent me for a scan due to the two weeks of negatives and I was dated at 6w2d, confirming that I ovulated about 3 weeks late. I think my breasts started leaking on the day of conception!

Still leaking and engorged and slight pain when she feeds, but not unbearably so.

Sorry for the long introduction

 

[cookielucylou]

Welcome NDH and congrats on your BFP.

 

[Debi]

I can't take another night like last night in the wee small hours of the morning LO woke up and decided he wanted 'diddy' I wouldn't normally mind but he kept chopping and changing sides and it felt quite agitating plus he was latching lazily and one of his lower 'fangy' teeth is coming thru atm so that was snagging on me. In the end I pulled him off and he started going crazy shouting and arching his back like a full blown tantrum, my poor OH works until 3 or 4am so needed his sleep. Usually LO sleeps through or at most wakes for a 5 minute feed but since I got pregnant (I'm about 8 weeks now) he's wanted to feed more not less and he keeps saying yum and smacking his lips like my milk taste changed for the better or something? xx

Oh it's not fun is it?!! I had terrible agitation through the night when DD wanted to nurse. Had to night wean as I simply couldn't do it anymore. I think the tiredness made it worse. I just really really cut down the length of time she was allowed to feed and after a week or two she just stopped waking for it. Really hope the agitation goes away after LO is here

 

[Braven05]

Hello! I am still BFing my 14 month old but only evenings/nights and weekends...I dropped all pumping sessions during the day but if I am home with LO during the day on the weekends I'll BF her whenever she asks for it. Typically though we're BFing maybe 2-4 times a day (depending on if she's having a rough night).

Anyways...I got my first PP AF when LO was 4 1/2 months and ever since then its been 31-33 day cycles (which is perfectly normal for me). I dropped day feedings and pumping in August so September (last month) was my first cycle after doing that and I was surprised with a 27 day cycle that was crampy and back achy and PMSy and I'd assumed that BFing hadn't been affecting my cycle anymore but clearly it had.

So this month I'm currently on CD 32 and have been cramping on and off for days. Ever since LO was born I've had no great predictors about when AF is going to start, like I used to. DH and I have been NTNP for 3 cycles now with no success so far. I'm wondering if BFing is preventing my fertility from going back to normal since I had kinda crazy cycles anyways. But also I'm trying to not get obsessive about it but I always knew when I was ovulating when I TTC before because I was temping and charting. I never had good success with OPKs. I can't temp now because LO doesn't STTN...any suggestions/advice?

 

[summer rain]

It may be you're just one of those ladies that after kids doesn't have a 100% regular, like clockwork cycle again and this is quite common regardless of BF or not. Personally if its possible for you I'd try dtd every other day throughout your cycle starting from when AF has ended right up until when you get AF again. This is the second time for us that this technique has worked on month one of trying it. OPKs don't work for me either and temping wasn't 100% as my son also doesn't STTN every night xx