I came off the minipill 5 weeks ago. DD is 11months old and I work fulltime so whilst I am still breastfeeding it is down to evenings and weekends. I had a few light bleedings when I was on the pill - its one of those pills that you don't take a break from. So far I have had no period and 4 bfn - so many because I had such cramps, bloating and vomitting that I thought I was pregnant.
So no period means no ovulating right? Could it be breastfeeding? Reading up on it it seemed unlikely that so little feeding would cause this... Just interested in others ideas and experiences. Fwiw last time I came off this pill I got my period back straight away and concieved within 3 months.
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Stop breastfeeding to conceive
12 replies
ShouldIBuyOrShouldIGo · 23/02/2017 22:04
OP posts:
Writerwannabe83 ·
23/02/2017 22:55
Whilst TTC #2 I was still breast feeding my son (aged 2). He probably fed about twice a day and maybe more frequently if he was unwell. Sometimes due to my shift patterns at work he wouldn't feed for over 48 hours.
I caught pregnant on our first cycle of TTC #2 but unfortunately had an early miscarriage three weeks later.
As we continued to TTC I was getting BFN month after month and I was getting so disheartened. Somebody did mention to me that breast feeding could be the cause as although it doesn't affect conception the hormones involved mean the egg can't implant into the uterine wall properly therefore an actual pregnancy can't be established. I was told that technically my egg could be being fertilised every month but when it came to it then implanting the breast feeding hormones were preventing it from happening.
After ten months of failed cycles I decided that I was going to stop breast feeding just in case it was having an impact and I caught pregnant on the following cycle and am now 15 weeks.
Despite EBF DS1 my periods returned when he was 4 months old and they settled into their normal regular cycle pretty quickly. I wasn't using any form of contraception for 12 months after his birth and then I had a Mirena Coul put in and my periods remained completely regular.
Many people who come off the Pill go months and months without having a period so in your case it may actually be that what's going on as opposed to breast feeding stopping ovulation.
I suppose you could give it a few more months to see if your periods return and if not then you may have to ask yourself whether it is the breast feeding and whether you're prepared to stop in order to TTC.
I didn't particularly want to stop BF DS but after ten failed cycles of TTC I knew I had to accept that maybe the BF was the problem. I really wanted a sibling for DS, I was aware of an ever growing age-gap and after 2.5 years of BF him I felt I'd done my time 
Thankfully he adapted pretty well to the breast feeding stopping cold turkey so now I'm trying to enjoy having my breasts to myself again before it all starts again in 6 months time!!
Good luck on your TTC journey 
Orangedaisy ·
23/02/2017 23:05
We ttc dc2 for 15 months. For the first 12 months I was bf dd1, once or twice a day. Decided to stop bf to see if that helped, fell pregnant 3 months later. Who knows if it made a difference but I am now snuggling 1 week old DD2 
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