TTC whilst breastfeeding. Tips, advice and support

My DS is just about to be 12m. I've had two periods now, and I've been temping. I've found that if I get a three hour stretch of sleep then I get a decent temp. Often DS does sleep from roughly 3.30 to 6.30 so mostly we got a good one. But if that didn't happen then I've just been ignoring the temp. I think there was maybe six or seven unreliable temps in the month? So overall I still got a good picture. I didn't mind about knowing exactly which day I ovulated, but I just want to be sure that there is a pattern of higher temps at the end of the cycle. The first cycle did have an obvious temp shift so I'm confident I did ovulate, but it was difficult to know the exact day because I had a couple of sleepless nights around ovulation! So it depends what you want to get from it I guess.

@Golaz urgh that does sound really frustrating!

I'm new at TTC while breastfeeding. My LO is 15m. I just came off the pill about 3 wks ago. I had an LH peak on Wednesday, so am just waiting to see what my luteal phase is like. It's common I think for them to be short while bf? I'm not really expecting a BFP, I'm just hoping my period doesn't come too soon and that then I'll have regular cycles. I mean I'm not saying a BFP wouldn't be nice! Hehe just seems unrealistic.

I'm not bothering to temp this time round as I'm still up in the night, sadly often a few times a night, so I think it would make it pointless unfortunately.

@Orangio @Billyv thanks very much for replying with your thoughts. I’m guessing I maybe had a tiny LH surge , but not enough to ovulate. It’s frustrating because , I’ve had two bleeds so far- three months apart- both with a 5 day luteal phase 🤦🏼‍♀️. I guess my body’s trying , but baby is still feeding too much. I thought about tempting, but if you are up in the night feeding does it make it less accurate ?

Apologies for asking you to repeat , but do you mind saying how old your babies are and if your periods have returned?

@Golaz I think BF can make ovulation testing less reliable - especially the clearblue kind which monitors estrogen too I think (?) as well as LH. I think your estrogen can fluctuate. Never used them, but I did think a static smile was for LH on those clearblue monitors? Not much help sorry.

@Orangio oh really glad you had a better night. I just rocked DS to sleep last night. Couldn't face any tears...he didn't sleep too badly though 🙂

Hi @Golaz i think someone upthread said that opks are less reliable when BF? Might be wrong though! Sure someone else can help as I don't know much about opks, but I don't think they ever guarantee ovulation (even if not BF). You need to temp if you want certainty.

@Billyv was last night any better than the previous one?

Night 2 of night weaning was definitely an improvement. He only woke once, and took a couple of hours to settle, so DH got more sleep 😁

Hey guys, wondering if anyone has had the same? I got a series of flashing smileys followed by a solid on clear blue digital, but never a positive on the IC sticks. Lines got slightly darker, but always a low ratio. Do you think this means I haven’t ovulated? 🤦🏼‍♀️

Ah thanks for the replies everyone. He was back to drinking milk like normal this morning so maybe the teething was putting him off.

@Orangio glad it wasn't as bad as it could have been, hopefully he'll be tired tonight and sleep more.

I've been trying to encourage DS to fall asleep by himself without rocking... Awful last night, I ended up crying as much as he was. Once I picked him up it took 30 seconds to get him to sleep. We're trying it to see if self settling helps with the night wakings but I'm not sure I can continue with letting him cry - I stay in the room and talk to him but it's awful seeing him so unhappy. He stands up and puts his head on my shoulder 😢

@Orangio that's a good start! Fingers crossed things will go smoothly.
I am 1-2 dpo. The dreaded tww begins. Determined not to test until Halloween.

Sorry @Billyv I can't say I noticed a change over ovulation either.

Last night was quite interesting! His first wake up was about 10.30, and it took DH three hours to get him back to sleep 😆 He moaned quite a bit (baby, that is) but didn't get really really shouty or anything. I think he wouldve if it had been me comforting him though! After that he woke up again at 4am, and it took another couple of hours to settle him. So it could have been worse. At least we got some bits of sleep and fingers crossed tonight will be better.

Where in your cycle are you @Mc3209 ?

@Orangio how was it?!

@Billyv mine was same boobie monster he usually is. I got a strongest positive OPK few days ago, so hoping I did lay an egg.

Not much yesterday either...

Hello everyone,

Just wondering if anyone else's babies seem less interested in milk while you're ovulating. Or is this just a coincidence? He's barely had anything today.

Thanks! 🙂

@Orangio hello! Thanks for asking. Yes, I hope so. I got a peak OPK yesterday late afternoon so fingers crossed I'm ovulating today. I do have a slight pain on and off on my left side, so could be!

We haven't actually dtd very much as DS has a crappy cold and is teething, didn't get round to it yesterday as he is very unsettled. We did do it 2 days ago. So hopefully we're in with a chance. But actually I'll be pleased if I have a reasonable luteal phase and then next month we can really go for it, if we did miss the boat (or rather egg) this time round.

Best of luck for weaning! I hope it goes well. Your poor DP haha (but then poor you putting in all the hard work at night for the last year). Let us know what happens!

@Billyv how's it going, did you ovulate?
@Porridgeaddiction how are you doing?

We've decided to night wean and tonight is the night! DH has three days off work now so he can do all the shushing and patting in the night. I am pretty nervous DS is going to screeeaaam... but conversely also looking forward to it 😳

I’m getting this too! Lots more EWCM and straight after my period up until I think(!) I’m ovulating. Has yours settled?

@Orangio you want the test line (on the left) to be as dark or darker than the control line to have your 'peak'. If it's lighter than the control, which I think this is but only just, then it's a negative for ovulation.

I did have a very full bladder when I took this, so will test again in a little while and see if the test line comes out darker.

It's still not 100% certain that you have ovulated, as you can have a LH peak and not actually release an egg, but there is a good chance of obvulation with an LH peak.

I'm afraid opks don't mean much to me! Does that mean you're about to ovulate? If so, awesome!

Interesting!

Good luck @Orangio and @Mc3209 keeping my fingers crossed for you!

I am hoping that at 15m after giving birth my cycles will settle quickly - trying to remind myself I've gone through lots of changes too though. Having a baby. Bfeeding. Coming off the pill...

I just do OPKs and track mucus. I wake up way too many times in the night to do BBT properly 😬 And I am getting fed up of DTD so often now 🤣 and this is only the first cycle..
It's very cool how are synched up!

@Mc3209 crossposted! I don't blame you not wanting to potty train and night wean all at once, what a nightmare!
Look forward to comparing notes on how our first cycles go. I've been temping, and it's a bit tricky to identify an exact ovulation date because of the disruption to sleep, but I definitely have ovulated as temps are generally higher now than at the start of the cycle. I'm somewhere between 4 dpo and 7 dpo I think. Do you temp or just do opks?

He's coming up for 12 months. He's a good eater of solids and snacks, so am sure he can increase that if needed. I think he just likes the comfort of BF at night really.
Not feeding before 4am puts you in a great position when you do decide to night wean - you can just eke it forward slowly.. much less traumatic than cold turkey!

@Orangio I want to night wean but I am too exhausted to. Plus I will be taking a week off work to potty train soon, I don't want to do too many changes at the same time. Although I guess I should have night weaned before potty training... Ah well.

@Billyv I thought my period would never come it was taking so long 🤣 Mucus has been random for quite some time before period came back, now ewcm is at the correct time, or at least what I think is the correct time. But let's see how long this first cycle is going to be. If OPKs anything to go by I shall be entering into tww in few days.

How old is he again @Orangio ? Mine is 15m and asks for milk when he wants it now - I realized he was only asking after 4am so not shoving a boob in his mouth if he wakes at 1am makes sense. Quite an easy decision. But he eats a lot at mealtimes and 2 decent snacks- trickier if they're still getting a big chunk of calories from milk.

@Billyv yeah he will go to sleep without feeding if he isn't hungry. But if he's hungry he will not go to sleep without feeding first. So I guess it will be a matter of breaking through that initial hunger until he gets used to it. Does not sound like it will be very pleasant!

Well creamy mucus is better than no mucus! 😆 But frustrating when you are eager for ewcm. It's really hard to stop thinking about it all the whole time eh?