TTC while Breastfeeding (or recently weaned!!) regular cycles and baby dust this way!

Foggymist sorry to hear about your chemical pregnancy. That must have been really difficult. Do you mind me asking how you night weaned your LO? I'm looking into gentle ways to do it, without any tears! Would like to keep cosleeping too, love the cuddles :)

That's the concern I had foggymist when I had my early miscarriage when I conceived on cycle 1 and then had BFNs continuously afterwards. I spoke to a doctor about it who said that breast feeding doesn't affect conception, I.e the sperm easily fertilises the egg, but the hormones involved in breast feeding prevent the egg being able to implant sufficiently to lead to a pregnancy. He said I could potentially be conceiving every month but not getting pregnant as such because the egg just can't attach to my endometrium wall.

How much truth is in that I don't know but he seemed quite confident in that he was saying.

Thanks, I know loads who have conceived in real life while bf but I do know many think it can be related to problems conceiving too. He feeds quite a bit still, 5 or 6 times during the day at least and probably 1-5 times a night (we have successfully night weaned but I don't deny him if he's teething, upset, etc). Af returned at 18months and is completely regular as it was before.

Welcome foggymist :)

Sorry to hear about your chemical pregnancy.

I haven't read much of this thread tbh, but I know people in real life who have successfully conceived while breastfeeding, so hopefully you won't have to stop :) How often does your DS feed at the mo?

Hello, can I join too? Still feeding my 23 month old ds, made a half assed attempt at ttc last month, got a bfp when af was two days late and unfortunately started bleeding a few hours later, chemical pregnancy

Having read a bit of this thread I really hope bf isn't causing a problem, I don't want stop yet and he loves his milkies

I've found having snacks and a beaker of oat milk (DS has CMPA) at the ready has been helpful for cutting out daytime feeds too and we've been getting the paints and playdough out more too :)

Hope af shows up for you soon Eclectic. Mine didn't return till 22 months, but DS was feeding very frequently until a few months ago. I couldn't have imagined weaning when DS was 11 months either. He' nearly 26 months though, so now feeling I'd like to be just feeding before bed before too long, but best made plans :)

Hi eclectic we stopped daytime feeds when LO was 18 months, now I've told her it's just for sleeping and she seems fine with that. Tried a few months earlier and she just kept asking to feed all day still so I gave up but this time it was much easier to distract her and she didn't seem to mind at all so she was obvs just ready. She likes having cows milk in her sippy cup, but I also found it helpful in the first few weeks to have snacks prepared in advance like blueberries and chopped up apple and lots of fun activities for times she would normally feed (pound shop is great for colouring books, stickers etc!). The only time she asks to feed now during the day is if she's tired and usually she's happy to go in the sling for her nap but if she ever gets upset about it I just feed her, it hardly ever happens though.

That's great dolphin thank you. I might give it a few months, then try it if still no AF. Never thought I'd be hoping for AF to appear!

When did you stop BFing during the day? And what does LO have in its place? Cows milk?

Hi baking

glad to know I'm not alone in TTC but not yet ready to fully wean

Thanks for the suggestion Dolphin! Will bear it in mind if things don't settle down in the in the next few months.

Welcome Eclectic!

Hi eclectic I took the pill for 2 months. Then I stopped and nothing happened for 6 weeks, at first I hoped I was pregnant, then I thought it hadn't worked at all but eventually my period started and I was so happy! I explained to my GP why I wanted to go on the pill and she was supportive but said it might lead to a drop in supply. My LG is 18 months so I wasn't that worried but it doesn't seem to have cut my supply too much thankfully.

Hello all, please can I join?

I'm BFing my 11month old morning evening and usually at least once in the night, and I express about 300mls for her during the day at nursery.
AF hasn't returned yet, but we're keen to start TTC #2. Really interested in the pill trick dolphin how long did you take it for?

Hope you all have a fun weekend

Hi baking :) it sounds like ur doing great! I am so happy because I followed the advice of someone on here and went on the pill to try and get my periods back and it worked! Yay! My first cycle off the pill was 6 weeks long tho so i guess I need to work on that. My LG is mostly day weaned now, like you I've been taking her out for her nap (she sleeps in the sling). I've ordered the book 'Nursies when the sun shines', I'm thinking about trying to gently nudge her towards reducing night feeds but I don't know how she'll react. I won't push it if she gets upset. We cosleep and I'm wondering if some of the wake ups she might accept just a cuddle...maybe I'm dreaming??!

Evening!

Just wondered how you were all getting on?

After a 33 day cycle, I had one of 49 days, not quite sure what to expect this time round!

DS is currently feeding 3 or 4 times a day, the last week I've managed to cut out his feed before a nap and so far so good, as he seems happy to go for a drive to get him asleep. He's certainly eating better now he's going about 12 hours without any breast milk in the daytime. I know night weaning is meant to help with fertility, but DS still has 2 molars to come through and feeding is the only thing that seems to comfort him then, so don't think we're ready to night wean yet.

Hello! Can I join you please?

DS is 24 months. He still feeds before bed and usually at least twice overnight and then on waking, plus often a feed before his nap if we're in the house. AF returned when he was 22 months, which was when we decided to ttc#2. 1st period was barely there and short as anything. Then last month was heavier than usual, so will be interesting to see what this month brings.

We missed the fertile window in the first cycle for one reason or another. I'm not using temping or OPKs, so just going on ewcm, but this month I've been dry as anything, so not sure what's going on. We've dtd regularly, so will just wait see.

Good luck everyone. Hope there's more BFPs coming our way soon :)

Thank you for the message hopsalong. This is what I am suspecting. Since TTC I have had the first 2 cycles which were longer than normal for me (33 and 34 days, rather than my normal 27-30ish). I had no BFP in those cycles, but I am guessing there might have been something happening. Then one cycle of 27 days, and this one with faint BFPs. I think weaning might be required. With DS I got pregnant on the first try!

Hello Abrahamkin and others. Saw this thread and was fretting about the same thing in the summer when still breastfeeding my 17 month old. Didn't want to wean him, so we started TTC anyway, because my cycle was quite regular and ovulation tests showed I was ovulating. I couldn't find any research that backed this up, but I think in my case the breastfeeding was causing some sort of implantation problem: two months in a row (first we weren't even trying and had unprotected sex once on cycle day 7 or something; second time we timed better) I had prolonged implantation type cramps and very weak positive tests, but slowly turning negative again, followed by AF. Then we took a month off (DH away for work) and I reluctantly weaned. But it did work out and next month I got my BFP! (Now 23 weeks.) I noticed that the third month I didn't get the prolonged (and quite uncomfortable) pulling pains. Wondered if it was a sign that an embryo was trying to implant but not quite managing it because lining too thin or some other hormone level wrong??

I'm not a doctor but I think the idea that breastfeeding suppresses fertility merely by stopping ovulation is probably too simple. I feel that I was falling pregnant but not able to stay pregnant until completely weaning.

Angharad the only thing I just remembered is my GP told me the pill can affect milk supply. This isn't a big prob for me as my LG is 17 months now but just thought I would mention in case it's an issue for u with a younger bubba

Thank you Abraham and dolphin - I am going to research the pill method, I've never heard of that before!
So sorry the witch got you Abraham.

Ah I'm so sorry to hear that, hope you're ok. Like you say it seems very positive that u got some promising tests so hopefully that's a good sign it will all fall into place next time.

Well. AF arrived yesterday evening. SO I'm out for this cycle. I feel sure that there was fertilisation (weakly positive tests, symptoms etc) but that implantation didn't occur (symptoms waned). Hopefully it is not the BF that is stopping the implantation, as have had a number of longer cycles since I started TTC than before, though all with negative tests.

Onwards and upwards I guess

Hi Angharad I really hope you will be able to keep bf and still ovulate! I have no idea if it will work but I am trying something which someone on here recommended which is go on the pill, then come off it again to hopefully 'kickstart' ovulation, fingers crossed! Abrahamkin best of luck if you're testing again tomorrow! :)

I have not really done what you are looking for but must say that I didn't get AF till my DS was around 10-11 mo. Even if I was back at work part time from 7 months. So by 6 months I am assuming I did not have my ovulation back. I think I should be ovulating now while still breastfeeding, but we are now around 22 months in.

Hi ladies can I join?

DD2 is ebf (although only three months at the moment). I would like another small gap for baby no.3 so we aren't using any contraception. last time despite trying expressing, dummies, mixed feeding etc etc the only thing that brought back my ovulation/AF was stopping BF completely at 6 months.

Has anyone out there found they had to wean completely to get pregnant on one occasion but then that wasn't the case the next time? (Clutching at straws here).

Other issue is that DD2 is a complete and utter bottle refuser. I would like to have her weaned by six months if it looks like I won't ovulate again without doing so, but not sure how to crack it as she is very very stubborn!

I'm not in the UK. Everything is closed here today! So have to wait to buy a new test tomorrow for testing Tuesday morning. Keeping my fingers crossed that the result will be clearer.

I'll keep everything crossed for you that it all works out! Could you try a digital test maybe? I only got a faint positive on a normal test with my LG so I got a digital one, might give you a clearer answer?