Periods after pregnancy

[babylann]

DD is 6 months old, delivered by EMCS. I had almost 8 weeks of bleeding after the birth. I also breastfed for about 8 weeks. Since stopping bleeding, I had two "periods" which were both quite bizarre. The first was unlike any I've had before, completely drenched my sheets at night (and we were on holiday which was embarrassing ), and the second was quite normal but very, very painful.

Before pregnancy, my cycle was 35 days between each period and I always had mild pain.

However, I've now not had a period since the beginning of September. Since the beginning of October, I've been taking a pregnancy test every week because I've been "feeling pregnant" (or pre-menstrual) - there's a heaviness in my tummy and I have sore boobs and extreme tiredness. But all tests are coming out negative.

Last week I had one night of very light spotting, and I also bled during sex.

My mum said after having me, her periods didn't return to normal until she had my brother (who is almost 2 years younger than me). She didn't breastfeed at all.

But after doing a search on the internet, it seems to be 100% certain that your periods will return to normal 2 weeks after stopping breastfeeding. I'm beginning to wonder now, as I've definitely skipped an entire period and would now be due my second one which isn't showing any signs of arriving. It also says on the internet that you shouldn't bother going to a doctor until you've skipped 3 periods.

I've also had an ultrasound scan, chest x-ray and an MRI scan since DD was born for unrelated health issues, and neither came out with anything worrying. In fact, the woman who did my ultrasound took a look at my uterus and said it was a "normal, not pregnant uterus - no baby in there" (when DD was about 3 months).

I've never skipped a period before in my life, but have been through a lot of stress/anxiety lately.

So my questions are: how long did it take your periods to go back to normal after having a baby? Is there ever a chance that your cycle will be a bit messy for a while? There's no chance that about 6 negative tests could be wrong, right?

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

I would be asking the GP to refer you to a gyanecologist (these types of problems are often outside a GPs remit). The underlying cause of this since your c-section needs to be properly determined.

Spotting between periods too should be mentioned to the GP in any case. Do make an appt and let us know how you get on. You will need to be persistant in order to get answers.