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

Well night 4 last night, he still woke twice but settled with cuddles both times reasonably quickly, no crying. He's adjusted to the new expectation, but I think he's genuinely hungry by 4am as he eats so little, so we were up at 6.30 for breakfast milk. Little steps forward though isn't it.
I know what you mean about seeing other babies eat, I was alarmed at first as they put so much in their mouths and then actually chew it.

I'm sure being back at work will make a difference for you, as you say if that doesn't help what will?! If you're getting the odd cramp then it seems things are going the right way. I had no idea af was going to show as I'm used to much worse period pains so it might surprise you yet.

How are nights going?

I've had the odd cramp, but not much. I have no idea what my body even feels like ovulating or having a natural period... was on the pill since teens, came off after maybe 12 years to get pregnant and fell before I had a period, and now here I am.
Whenever I'm feeling really proud of how much food DS is eating I look at another baby and that brings me down to earth ... if he eats (and actually swallows) a few bites of banana I'm over the moon! Then you see other one year olds eating a whole banana as a snack and then I think ah, we have a way to go.
Back to work soon anyway so he'll be at nursery full time (dreading) so if almost 10 hours a day "off" from feeding doesn't bring AF back, I think it'll be a long road and I may need to reassess my expectations.

Broadly following Jay Gordon howthelightgetsin although probably not as gentle, skipped the first three days of feeding short as it's almost impossible to unlatch him before he's asleep. Going straight to refusal and just holding him / cuddling was easier for me. He's none the worse for it next morning. Also ds is in his own room now which is why we've renewed our efforts as when cosleeping I would just wake up with him feeding and I had no idea how long he'd been there for haha. I'd need a full body leotard on to stop him helping himself. Although tbh my first period came back despite this (he does a lot of comfort feeding too, but is a very poor eater which is the other problem, he's improving slowly but he never just eats a bowl of food, he nibbles it, or licks a tiny bit of yoghurt off a spoon, drives me mad) .

Yep would be great if someone could quantify the different parameters for fertility returning but I guess there's too much variation it would be a huge range. Are you getting crampy feelings, as I had these on and off for weeks before af arrived.

Are you doing Jay Gordon or similar Thecomfortafor? My DS is almost 13 months and I can't tell you how many times he feeds at night, it's often every sleep cycle.. I think I want to wait until 18 months plus for night weaning as it seems fairer to them and they should be able to understand more.
I know everyone's body is different but it seems unlikely I can be fertile on the amount I'm feeding, especially at night. It would be interesting to know the quantity of milk or the frequency of nipple stimulation is the deciding factor. I'm still feeding constantly day and night it seems, but we're doing a lot better with food and often feeds are a few seconds only - so purely comfort. Food intake has been pretty slow with us but I can see from nappies I've been making some progress.
CM has been increased over last month or so so possibly my body trying to go for it, even if it can't quite.

My ds is 19 months piglet. I was expecting a worse night tbh, but after waking sometime after midnight, he was pretty upset but just jiggled him, lay down next to him etc. I realised the window was ever so slightly open on the latch so I'm sure the neighbours had the full experience. Luckily they have two small kids so hopefully understand...

It's hard to know whether we're doing the right thing, but if it means getting longer stretches of sleep for us all, then I'm up for a bit of short term trauma so to speak.

Good luck with the night weaning - how old is your DS, thecomfortador? I would quite like to night wean but any attempt here (26mo) just results in hysterical screaming, which is especially hard to bear at 2am or whatever! Our neighbours must loathe us...

Probably difficult to say for certain hello I remember it being a specific kind of pain, so I guess if it is what you have every month then no reason to believe it is anything else. But then I'm not sure myself if I've ovulated this month, even though I did opks and had a positive strip. No pains to speak of, but then I don't think I had them every month anyway. I just don't trust my body at the moment haha, just want to be sure there is a cycle of sorts to work with.
There are so many uncertainties aren't there.

I've decided to wean ds at night (again having done it in April, but we slipped back into old habits). Cried /screamed for half an hour when he woke, eventually went to sleep then woke up four hours later and let me cuddle him to sleep, so positive that we'll do it properly this time. Easier than refusing during the day when he does that horrible whining and clawing on me.

If I'm getting mid-month ache am I definitely ovulating? I'm assuming so, but not at all experienced with tracking cycles so not totally clued up. Wanted to avoid opks as I have a tendency to obsess :)

Half-heatedly joining here.

My DS turned 1 not long a go and we seem to have stopped preventing and decided to let nature take its course... My periods haven't returned yet and I'm still feeding an awful lot.

Thought I'd better start taking pregnancy vitimins again really given although it seems fairly unlikely to happen soon it could happen .. buying the vitimins seemed to spur me on though and walked back from supermarket all pumped up thinking "OK, let's do this!" I guess I'd also really like to fall before he's 2 and not have to make any difficult decisions re: weaning in order to TTC.. which is something I'm really hoping to avoid.

Forest, I have a short LP too but I've not read anything that would lengthen it except ceasing BFing for me :-(

Hello! Me too, please! I'm bf DD who is 10 months. Periods came back around 4 months. I think I ovulated last month, due to some pains, but I don't temp or anything so I'm not sure. Having longer cycles still: does this mean anything?

Looking forward to seeing your successes

Hello ladies, may I join this thread too? My daughter has just turned one and my second AF has now started. I had 3 early MCs while ttc#1 and we went to the Coventry implantation clinic who were amazing - I credit their treatment plan with my daughter being here. I'm hoping to go back to Coventry for repeat tests when ttc#2 but currently my LP is quite short (7 days) and the biopsy they do needs to be 7-10 dpo. Any tips on lengthening my LP? Thanks so much.

Hi can I join. Currently feeding my 13 month old and we've decided to go for a 2 year age gap (or near abouts)

Ps welcome comfort

AF returned this week, woo! 😐

Ooh looks like a good thread, may I join? My af returned this weekend, ds is 19 months and while he can go all day without milk, he's up and down on whether he wants to, so I wouldn't be surprised if it takes a while to settle down. Still, glad it's returned and we can finally feel like TTC is a proper thing for us.

Exciting for you dilly fingers crossed it has kick started for you too.

So after suggestions on here and from OH I decided to try taking oral contraceptives and see if I could kick start things. Took it for 10 days. Today is day 4 of not taking it and this morning I have started bleeding very lightly. I know it's early days but I'm really hoping this is the start of my cycles returning!!

Hi all, jus checking in. Congrats bessy and eclectic! Keep trying Dilly, is seeing someone privately a possibility? Welcome piglet and sorry for your loss Bluee, I hope you are doing ok.

I fully weaned my DS onto cows milk when he turned one a few weeks ago, I was only feeding morning and night but still no sign of AF. We just took it slowly but luckily he took to it really well, he was never that keen on formula. I'm impatient to conceive again but then work has been crazy and it looks like we are moving so enough on my plate really

I haven't heard of that actually, although OH did actually suggest it himself! I may give it a try as I'm sure I still have some packets left over!

I am still feeding during the night, sometimes only once, recently it's been more. I'm really not keen on trying to night wean as my daughter will scream blue murder if my OH tries to even go in her room when she wakes and if I go in she just expects a feed and gets upset if I don't feed her. I don't think she's ready for it yet.

I have been using opks and yet to have a positive. I did actually use them every day for 2 months and not a single positive.

Dilly I'm sorry to hear you are having a frustrating time getting checked out. Have you heard much about people going on the oral contraceptive pill for a couple of months and then stopping it, in an attempt to restart their periods. I didn't do this but I'm sure some others have on this thread (though of course there is every possibility that their periods would have returned regardless of being on the pill)

Otherwise I guess you could measure your BBT or use OPKs (though the latter are expensive IMO) to see if you are ovulating.
The other option would be to ask to be seen by another GP, or to ask to be referred to gynae.

I can't remember if you are still feeding during the night? Personally I think it was the night weaning that brought about the return of my AF, and it is heavenly to get more of a proper nights sleep.

sorry for the epic post.

They've just said that breastfeeding is the reason that my periods haven't returned yet, even though my daughter is now 22 months old. They won't even do a blood test to confirm it!

Hey ladies.. haven't been on this thread for ages! Atleast a few months even.
Hope your all well!?

I'm going to join in again..

Dd is 17m on the 30th, still breastfeeding in the evening before bed, if she wakes up in the night and before her daytime nap/naps.
Af returned when dd was 3m despite exclusively bf'ing.. im always amazed by women who's af goes away for ages because my dd was such a guzzler i don't understand how mine returned so fast.
I'm on cycle 5 now but cycle 2 after a early mc/cp but atleast i know i can get pregnant/i am ovulating.

dilly did they explain why they wouldn't do the bloods just because your breastfeeding? Has your af returned?

Is there anyone else who got af back as early as me 🤔

So I had an appointment with another doctor and I said that I wanted bloods taken to check hormone levels and determine whether breastfeeding was stopping me from ovulating. She said she'd speak to a specialist and get back to me. She rang me this evening to say that they won't do bloods as I'm still breastfeeding. I'm so disappointed and angry. I have no idea where to go from here

Also Bessy my family are similarly disproving of me still feeling and it makes me want to not see them as much so that I don't have to explain myself. Sad really.

Hey Bessy you've done really well getting to this stage. If it's not working for you, then sounds like it might be time to wean. It'll probably be nicer during pregnancy not to be feeding. Let us know how you get on.

Welcome piglet! That's encouraging that your cycles have returned, even if they are a bit longer than normal. I've never used opks but did temp for a while which is good as it gets you more in tune with your body. This time around however I just dtd a lot around my fertile window. Whatever works for you I guess. Best of luck