Does nursing normally affect your fertility the same way each time?

[18wksplus]

DD is 2 and I'm 18wks pregnant (she'll be 2.6 when it arrives). We'd like a third very quickly for various reasons.

However, it took totally stopping nursing DD (at 12m) to get my period back. We were still feeding at night time occasionally and she never took formula/a dummy.

So... can I expect to need to totally stop feeding the new baby before I get my fertility back? or does it change with each baby (ie might I get my fertility back whilst still nursing this time around)??

[quoteunquote]

No, it can be different each time, well it has been for me,

and I have got pregnant with no period returning, so anything goes, I shall be interested to see what other people say.

[18wksplus]

Three - so the progesterone theory means that you need to cut back more with subsequent babies to get the same effect on fertility.

Pants. Was really hoping to get away with dropping night feeds early on and seeing if that made a difference. Really want to feed for a long time, but really want another baby sooner rather than later.

[sanam2010]

Don't equate periods with fertility. I never got my periods back with Dd1 and was just considering weaning her at 18 months as we wanted to try to conceive %232 when I suddenly found out i was 5 weeks pregnant already! (I found out bc at some point i was so tired all the time that it reminded me of first pregnancy, obviously missed periods weren't a signal for me)!

This happens to quite a few extended breastfeeders. Also from the bf mums I know, it was more common for periods to return quicker after the second baby - perhaps also bc with the second they slept through earlier.

So I wouldn't worry too much for now, and when your periods don't come back after some time you could start night weaning first, which brings periods back for many mums, and if that doesn't work then you make a decision, but basically you can conceive without periods, it's just less likely and harder to time, but you can use measures such as discharge, body temperature etc as indicators of ovulation even without periods.

[tableandchairs]

Surely there's only one occasion when you can conceive without a period (ie two-ish weeks before your first period post-baby)? Otherwise if you 'miss' that egg (the first one to be released post-baby), you get a period.

So surely you can't be fertile (ovulating) every month without getting a period...?? I've always understood that if you ovulate, you either a) get a period or b) get pregnant - that you can't ovulate without getting a period (although you obviously can have a period without ovulating).

Does that make sense?

[halloweeneyqueeney]

no! I know people who've had BFing BFPs for their 3rd because they thought their fertility would be affected BFing no2 in the same way as it was when BFing no1

[18wksplus]

Ooh halloween - that gives me hope :)

[sanam2010]

Tableandchairs, as far as i know, u can ovulate without having a period, it's just leas likely but from what i read it is possible.

[Toptack]

I'm pretty certain that tableandchairs is correct, after you've ovulated you either get pregnant or have a period, so there is only one 'window' when you can get pregnant without having a period.