to think it is fairly obvious that,,,

[emmymama]

you can get pregnant even if you are breastfeeding... since i bf dd who is 12 months and i am 20 weeks pregnant...

had a conversation about it with someone today,went like this...

her;you're pregnant? me; yeah,i'm 20 weeks now,
her;when did you stop breastfeeding? (not as strange a question as it looks, i'm very very pro breastfeeding my babies)
me;i still breastfeed
her;you cant get pregnant if you breastfeed
me;you can
her no, you cant, its a contraceptive
me;i'm 20 weeks and i still feed dd..
her no, you cant

i'm definately pregnant and i definately still breastfeed

suppose it makes a change from the usual, "you cant breastfeed if you are pregnant,,,erm, yeah you can!

[carolondon]

I would have said 'so do you think i am lying to you about being pregnant or about breast feeding?'
Honestly the ignorance of some people! She probably thinks that you can't get pregnant if you do it standing up!!!

[lifeas3plus1]

Haha, I know someone who was really shocked when she found out she was pregnant again. I asked her if she was using contraception and she replied "Yes, I am still breastfeeding"

There really is some common sense lacking around somewhere.

[AMumInScotland]

These are probably going to turn into the same people who think you can't get pregnant once you get past about 35 - apparently there's a bit of a "late pregnancy boom" lately because some women have taken all the messages about "get on with having a baby because average fertility goes down with age" to mean "your fertility will go down so low you don't even have to think about the possibility any more"

[ant3nna]

Thing is you can use breastfeeding as contraception, people just aren't doing useing the method properly. AFAIK, baby has to be exclusively breastfed and fed at least every four hours (longer at night), under six months old and your periods can't have come back for breastfeeding to work as contraception, the rate if the rules are followed properly is about 1 in 200 women will fall pregnant which is on par with condoms etc.

Some more information here

AMumInScotland - I do know someone with a 22 year old and 2 year old twins. I wonder what happened there

[tillyfernackerpants]

I think ynbu in terms of your conversation but there is a common myth that bf is a contraceptive. Our local BFC explains very clearly that it is a myth and that you can get pregnant while bf because people do think it's true!

[belgo]

ant3anna- yes I've heard that but I was bfing dd1 every two hours or even less day and night and my periods still came back when she was two months old.

[ruddynorah]

my gp went on and on about this at my 6 week check. she said it only works if you're bfing very often. so won't work if you have a baby that sleeps through early on for example.

[ant3nna]

Thats the thing isn't it belgo, breastfeeding all the time is no guarantee that your periods won't come back and the 'breastfeeding method' only works as long as you don't have periods. I think that's why its official name is 'Lactational Amenorrhoea Method' rather than Lacational method.

[JaneS]

BF is a contraceptive. It's just not a very good contraceptive!

Tell them you and DP just have masses of sex because you're both so irresistible

[belgo]

ant3anna - I was quite pissed off actually, I was looking forward to no periods for a few more months!

[BelleDameSansMerci]

I'm stunned that anyone would actually believe that bf would stop you from conceiving... And, honestly, I'd be highly skeptical of the "bf all the time and you won't get pregnant" too as surely it depends on the individual and their levels of fertility?

I suppose these people also, possibly, believe you can't become pregnant the first time you have sex.

[racmac]

Well i used bf as a contraceptive - it worked till i stopped feeding at 10 months and then i got pg. My periods never returned

[lal123]

well wouldn't have worked for me. With both my DC, who were/are ebf and fed regularly at night, my periods returned when they were about 3 months old. boooo

[SPBInDisguise]

if bf frequently, baby under 6mo and your periods haven't retiurned, then it's very effective.
if your periods come back, all bets are off!

[SPBInDisguise]

bf frequent day & night
baby under 6mo
periods still absent

that's it i think - else it's not a reliable contraceptive

[oldraver]

Yes I am in th camp of exclusive B/F for six months and EVERY 3 hours and still periods returned. Luckily I had an IUD at my six week check up

I also have 20 years between my two... both were planned

[SPBInDisguise]

sigh
if periods have returned bf is not a contraceptive

[ant3nna]

LAM (Lactational Amenorrhoea Method) is a genuine method of contraception. You can get some information about it from the NHS Choices site and from the NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries.

I think we are fighting a loosing battle here SPB.

[SPBInDisguise]

just making the point that periods coming back does not mean it doesn't work - it's an indicator that it will no longer work

but then i have no experience, i didn't have a period until 16m with DS. am 6m in with DD and waiting

[MummyDoIt]

I fell pregnant while exclusively bfing and my periods hadn't returned. People forget that you have to have ovulated before you can have your first period and, if you ovulate, you can get pregnant. Luckily for us, we wanted another baby and were thrilled to find out I'd fallen pg so quickly so cause for celebration.

[lovechoc]

my periods didn't return the whole time I was BFing DS - and I fed him for about 7 months, and it took another 3 months after that for them to return! All that time I didn't use any contraception, so obviously you can get pg if you are lucky enough but for others it just doesn't happen even if we want it to.

[SPBInDisguise]

MDI - i read somewhere (TPOB maybe?) that the difference between pre 6m and post is that pre 6m you are extremely unlikely to ovulate before your first period. Afterwards it isn't 'good enough'. Obviously all contraceptive has its failures - of which you were a very happy 'failure'

[MummyDoIt]

SPB - DS1 was only 5 months so I was still within that 6 months!! Guess I was just lucky!