How likely is it to get pregnant while breastfeeding??

[jennijones]

Hi all, this is my first time on Mumsnet!

I was just wondering how likely it is to get pregnant while breastfeeding? I know it's not unheard of, but does it happen a lot?

The thing is, my little boy is 9 weeks old now and I breastfeed (almost constantly it seems!!). Last weekend, my hubby and me finally re-kindled our love-life (well, kind of, anyway...) and when I got up the next morning and went to the loo I had the kind of discharge I only ever get when ovulating (sorry for the gory details!).
When I looked this up on the web it appeared that healthcare professionals seem to find it very unlikely to conceive while breastfeeding, especially when you have a young baby which feeds a lot, but I am now getting the impression that it's more common than they are letting on!!
So I'm wondering now if I actually might have gotten pregnant, especially as we've been so lucky in the past and managed to conceive as soon as we started trying with our three children.
Has this happened to anyone else?? Is this common??
Jen xx

[lljkk]

Off the top of my head:
If your baby is less than 6 months old and exclusively breastfed day and night (plenty in the night), and you haven't had a period yet, then lactation itself provides something like 98% protection against pregnancy. That's about as goode as the Pill or condoms on their own.

So there's about a 2% chance you'll get pregnant, in the conditions you've described, assuming you've not had a period, etc.

Vaginal discharge can be different postpartum, I don't think you can know for sure what that was.

Preggo test the only way to be sure!!
Hope you get the answer you want.

[KEAWYED]

My Dr told me that its pretty much fail safe for the first 6 weeks
But if you really dont want anymore use protection after that.

I'm hoping to get pregnant while breastfeeding I know the odds arent good.

[thisisyesterday]

as lljkk says, it's very reliable if you meet hte criteria

baby exclusively breastfed (no formula feeds/water/anything)
baby still feeding in night. i think it is every 4 hours or so (but don't quote me on that)
no return of periods
baby under 6 months old

even with this there is a small chance of getting pregnant, my periods returned 7 weeks post-partum with all 3 of my children and i am certain i ovulated with at least the last 2, before i got my period.
so, it is certaonly possible, even if not that likely