TTC and still breastfeeding? Thread # 5 - Positive Vibes!

Thanks puggle. Will just wait and see! Like you pear I don't think I would be good at the temping so hoping to not need it.

pear sorry I am still new to all this do you temp as well as use opk because the opk isn't accurate? Hope your scans go well!

pumpkin we can be new to this together!

Hi I'm new to this post hope you can help
I currently have a 7 month old, breastfeeding 4-5 times in 24 hours but fully weaned on 3. Meals a day

We are wanting a second child but unsure if I can as no period yet? Is there anything I can do to boost my fertility ? or get my period so I can at least get an idea when I'm ovulating ?
Thanks

I think its very variable ten - some people seem to get their cycles back at 6 weeks despite EBF so it has no effect, other people seems to take longer. I can't believe I'm at sodding nearly 23 months and no period back. Grrr!
I must re-read NCSS for the toddler tips. DS has always done things on his own time - at a year was still sleeping on my lap in the evenings as he was such a bad sleeper, and its only been recently he could be put to bed at 8 ish and sleep till 10 (at one stage in the spring was waking up every 45 mins. - I would just take myself to bed on the 3rd wake up of the evening) He definitely doesn;t seem ready to wean.....

Also...just thought...occasionally my son has bottles. Should I reduce my BF and give him bottles today? (I have a very limited understanding of how BF impacts cycles.)

Hello ladies! I posted a while back but had a couple of questions and looking for some advice...

My DS is only 20 weeks but he took a long time to conceive and I had extremely long / irregular cycles before conceiving. The first cycle I had a positive opk I fell pregnant.

Anyway...I'm BF and co sleeping and period not returned.

For many reasons we would like a close age gap (ha ha for those who joked before no he doesn't sleep well in fact he's awful so I think we are mad!) so we are ttc again.

Couple days ago I had string cm but I was unsure whether it was "fertile" I'm not great at judging these things and frankly a google of that was pretty grim!

Anyway...this morning had clear positive opk. We had sex last night.

Is it likely to get a positive opk without ovulation as periods not returned?

Also before last night it was,about 5 days since last sex - might we have missed it?

Thanks for reading!

It looks like upping feeds to twice a day for a week earlier this cycle (around cd 7) has massively upset things, as I've still had virtually no ewcm and I'm cd 23 now.

My daughter is nearly 23 months old, and AF only returned at 20months when I cut down to once a day. And the last cycle was 43 days long.

I would cut the last feed, but I have no idea how to!

Here's hoping I get my AF soon, so I can get on with next cycle instead.

Hi Blue, Kitty and all, congrats Kitty that's a milestone ;-). Doing fine here but wondering if I will need to cut feeds a bit to be lucky. How is everyone else?

Hey all, I lurked here a while ago but no AF so TTC not really an option. It took me 1yr to get pregnant with my 13mth old. AF arrived 2 days ago so I am dusting off my thermometer and my fertility monitor! Looking forward to sharing some of the madness. We also bed share with my LG so DTD is going to have to be creative this time round! How is everyone else doing?

Well, AF is now here! Thanks for being patient with me :)

Clara, stress and too much going on could also be a factor as I've just gone back to work, freelance from home but still crazy busy juggling it and the two DC! Cramps last night and this morning but still no sign...wish AF would just get on with it!

Hi Blue, see what the others think. But I think upping feeds can affect your cycle.. Cd it be for any other reason, eg if loads on or more stress than usual Good luck!

Hello lovely ladies, mind if I drop in with a quick question? Not currently ttc here but still BF my 16 mo DD and AF is a couple of days late. AF returned when DD was 12 months and has been regular 27/28 days since. We've hardly DTD for various reasons and not since last af. DD has upped her feeds a lot in the last month due to teething....is it likely this has messed with my cycle? Is it possible to skip an AF entirely or could it just be v late?

Hey espresso, how old is your dc? My ds is 16 months... Bf mornings and eves.. I'm finally back down to a cycle of 29 days but I think I'll probably have to cut back a bit more to have chance to conceive.. Hope everyone else is well and that your move went well Dougal

We have a HUGE bed. She sleeps in a cot bed for Dad, but on a double mattress next to it on the floor for me. This does make dealing with wakings/ long bedtimes, more comfortable.

I'm sure many people think we're weird.

I moved big mattress away from her cot bed one night, thinking we could get rid of it, and become "normal". She fell out of cot bed, leading to an earlier than usual night waking. So, I reverted back to the system that works!

I'm fairly confident that upping from 1 to 2 feedings at my crucial cycle time has messed things up this month. CD17 and very little EWCM. Bugger, bugger, bugger. Back on 1 feeding again now, fingers crossed it could still happen.

Yay - you're all cheering me up about being pants at the pantley pull off. He was teething last 2 nights and virtually no feeding was done which was most unusual. Back to normal last night though!
I think we'll keep working towards a big bed (and have actually ordered one from Ikea so H may actually have somewhere else to sleep) and hope that leads to a bit less feeding too. I have "sally weans from night nursing" and its pure shite. I suspect "nursies when the sun signs" is shite too.
I am honestly contemplating making a pretend Peppa book where Peppa finds out about boobs going to sleep.

Great link espresso. I have No Cry Sleep Solutions and did find lots of it useful. But stuff like the Pantley pull off was only useful for a younger baby. It did teach her to go to sleep without a feed, but it didn't mean she stopped asking if she woke in the night. In the end we just had to stop that, saying no, boobs are sleeping now, and offering food as an alternative until she'd got used to not having nutrition in the night.

I think weaning, or big cut downs can matter a lot for returning fertility and conceiving. Certainly I've noticed as I got it down to twice a day a return to EWCM and slightly longer cycles and then now down to less than once a day longer cycles again and, this cycle

blows trumpet this cycle a return to rising estrogen levels before the LH surge. For a while now I've had an LH surge but estrogen levels have not been picked up by the clear blue sticks. WHereas this cycle I had a couple of days of that. Exciting. Though we moved house this weekend so only fitted in DTD two times. We'll see.

I also think your general health matters a lot, and I have worked on this as I have cut down on the BF, so its not clear to me which has had more impact.

good luck pear! Hope your DH did ok!

Best of luck Pear, I hope it all goes well and I hope you get some positive news soon.

Pop back on here to report it when it happens.

I feel a bit guilty for writing so much about weaning (or actually cutting down) - it's because I'm at the more extreme end of highly sensitive hormones, that's why I had to cut down so much. I would imagine this is very different for lots of other people.

Pantley pull off never worked for me either, she just rooted and cried. I did find that book helpful in stating that things are unlikely to change on their own (for a very long time). That did help, as I knew I didn't want to be doing night feeds every couple of hours until till she was 3. It helped me make a definite decision that I wanted to make a change.

That's a great link Espresso - really helpful.
I cannot seem to crack the Pantley pull off at all. I can't even get the finger on chin thing as the rooting starts straight away. I suspect one day it'll work all of a sudden but it seems a long long way away......

AF was very heavy, and concluded the end of last week. So, time to start trying again. Good luck to everyone this month (new job is helping me feel it's not the be-all-and-end-all, which is helpful).

Things have gone backwards a bit on weaning, when it was all going swimmingly. A bout of D&V, had me offering in the day to help her feel better and get rehydrated – and then that opened her mind to it again, and she’s been requesting loads, mainly because her tummy has been uncomfortable, plus she’s not been wanting any dinner (so big, bedtime feeds). And, she hasn’t adjusted to GMT. So, I’m back doing a morning one around 5.20am because that way I can remain horizontal, rather than have to get up (it doesn’t put her back to sleep, but it gets me 30-45 mins of lying down time! I really don’t want to be up before 6am!). I know no one has the answer to this, but I’m really hoping that popping a first-thing bf back in, isn’t going to compromise fertility.

Had a shaky week as she asked for bf a lot a few nights in the night, but requests stopped for past 2 nights.

On night weaning - I found this blog post the most helpful for ideas.
www.emmapickettbreastfeedingsupport.com/twitter-and-blog/weaning-toddler-bob-and-pre-schooler-billie-how-do-you-stop-breastfeeding-an-older-child

But, it worked because I was definitely ready, and she was old enough to accept a gentle “no” in the night. In contrast, she would not accept it being removed at bedtime at the moment.

Your poor DH having to go through the test again, my DH hasn't done his yet, I said to him theres no point rushing as my next appointment with the consultant isn't until 22nd December, I just needed to have everything done by then to discuss. I think theres lots that can make it inconclusive as has sample has to be complete, kept warm etc, I was just reading the leaflet I was given about it for DH the other day, quite strict instructions.

Shame your DH may be away around Ov time but might be nice to have the pressure off a bit for a cycle.

I tested with an IC this morning and BFN, which was pretty expected. I used an OPK late morning too and that was nearly positive so that was making me wonder whether my body tried and failed to OV on cd12 and is gearing up again?