Breastfeeding and want to go pregnant

[odbod]

son is 16 weeks old, am exclusively bf and desperate to get pregnant again (was always the plan to have as small as possible gap between babies) - heard of people getting lucky and getting pregnant again whilst bf (my mum for one) but does anyone know how I can increase my chances? love bf and would rather not stop in a hurry!
do my chances increase when I get to the weaning stage?
Can't ask HV as worried they'll disaprove about small gap between babies - doctor told me to wait 18 months before trying

[katyjo]

It has nothing to do with hv, your decision. I believe once there is more than a 6 hour gap between feeds your fertility starts to increase, so if baby is sleeping through the night. I would keep trying and you will get pregnant as soon as your body is ready, don't stress about it.

[basboseh]

i think your period will get regular and normal again when you wean your baby or there is long hours gap between feeds
that`s a sign that your fertility is back and you might get pregnant

[Emskilou]

I bf my dd (now 21 months) and when she was 5 months old I fell pregnant with ds (now months old) I didnt have a period and still haven't had one yet but I am still bf ds, not sure if this helps

[fireflighty]

Dunno much about this, but I'd get a book like Taking Charge of Your Fertility and read up on everything about cycles, then you can at least work out where you are with cycles, and in them. You may need some quite long gaps between feeds for everything to kick off again, so that might not happen for a while. Also bear in mind that round about the 3-4 months of pg mark you might find your supply drops right off and as your baby will still be very young you could have to start using formula as early as then. So if as well as wanting a very small gap between babies you have any kind of target for how long you bf, bear that in mind.

[fireflighty]

Sorry, just to clarify, you could of course keep bf all the way through pregnancy, and then tandem feed. But with a very young first baby you might have to start using formula as well at the point when/if your supply drops in pregnancy, whereas with an older baby who doesn't need as much milk that wouldn't be as much of an issue. Just something to bear in mind.