anybody else would like to TTC but still BF and not ovulating yet?

can't do quickies any more I think there is something wrong with my fanjo. It's dry as toast (sorry TMI!) - now that can be fixed with KY - but it's like, it just doesn't get the message that this is what we're doing now, IYSWIM. It couldn't be less interested, even if the rest of me is. Dunno how you fix that

Ttc when co-sleeping is great DH and I have been married a very long time indeed and I've never had so much fun. I think already we've got it together more this year, ttc no.2 than we did in the last 5 years. You've got the master the art of the quickie though We sneak into the spare room bed when dd is asleep, or downstairs at nap-time.

I have to admit that all this texting 'oh god, i think i've got fertile mucus come home quick i need a shag', does take the spontenaiety out of things a bit, but you need a good imagination...

have just gone back and read this thread properly (I should so be working!) and am sooooo relieved to find we aren't only couple in world to be down to once-in-9m...

I know it's hardly the thing y'all want to be congratulated on but, thanks ladies, you've made me feel HEAPS better

Hi girls,

Hope you don't mind me dropping in late. DH and I have just decided to get started on number 2 and I am in pretty much the same boat as you Choolie.

DD is 8 months and although she only has 2 feeds, breakfast and before bed, my periods have yet to make a re-appearance. I haven't given her a night feed for a couple of months now and I really thought my cycle would have returned by now.

On the + side, the old bedroom gymnastics with DH have well and truly resumed!

Yeah, that's the book. Got the title slightly wrong

Hm I would like to ttc #2 and at 38 don't want to be waiting around either. Ds is 9m and bfing a lot, no sign of periods. Have been wondering whether i needed to quit in order to ttc...

then there is that whole, how do you ttc when co-sleeping thing that I've been too to ask about! Not to mention, neither me nor dh being able to scrape together about half a libido between us

LOL crossed posts danceswithbaby

Ladies, I have only skim read the thread, but I was ttc for months while breastfeeding ds and it seemed like a lost cause. Then I read this book. It was a revelation. I had no idea that I knew so little about my own body!! I later learned that breastfeeding was making my luteal phase (the time between ovulating and menstruation) too short to give a fertilised egg time to implant. I cut down feeding ds a bit and I got pg in December last year, but unfortunately miscarried at 6 weeks.

What I really want to say is that it's not always as simple as breastfeeding + ovulation = able to get pregnant. I am 36 so I know I need to get my skates on and without the information in this book, I would still be fumbling in the dark - so to speak

Hi there, I hope you don't mind me gatecrashing? I've been b/f A LOT for 23 months now and STILL no periods. We really want to try for another, so I've drastically cut down on day feeds recently and I'm sure there's some hormone action. It's so frustrating not knowing what's going on.

I've just read a book that says you can have periods without ovulating, but if you're ovulating you will bleed. Simple as that. So if you're not having periods, you're not ovulating.

It also says that sperm can only live for a matter of hours in non-fertile type mucus, so the three-day bonking rule shouldn't make much difference. At least that's what the book says and it seems to know what it's on about. It's called 'Taking Charge of Your Own Fertility'. Anyone else read it?

Feel free to borrow my DH. He's normally charged and ready to go

Oh and we haven't done it since I conceived either. When DD gets old enough to ask me what the difference is between boys and girls I may well have to look it up!

I BF until DD was 17 months. Periods returned when she was 13 months and I was pregnant when she was 14 months. Baby inbound in five weeks . Best of luck (mainly with staying awake long enough to have sex every three days ).

Tangle - yes, that's why we only did it twice in 13 months

In retrospect though laziness and knackeredness in equal measure played a part

not ttc at mo but still bf 15 m/o quite a lot really and periods came back at 13m which was later than I expected if that info is helpful?

sex every 3 days? DD needs to actually sleep in the evenings as standard rather than a rare occurence before that one'll work....

Oh and bollocks to temping and peeing on silly sticks HAVE SEX EVERY THREE DAYS - sperm will then be available when you do pop an egg out. It really can be that simple

End of July we think (see how complex it gets when you have no periods? ) However the mws are surprisingly cool when you tell them you are still breastfeeding.

peanuthead - you can definitely ovulate and be fertile even if you're not having periods, as there have been quite a lot of babies born to women who were relying on BF (and no periods) for contraception .

If you are ovulating then your hormones must be tending back towards "normal", and so the fertility awareness ought to start to come into its own again.

Whilst in an ideal world you'd take your temperature at exactly the same time every morning, I tend to go for when I've just woken up after a "reasonable" period of sleep (it's meant to be at least 3 hours - yeah, well...). I've only been going about a week and so far the temps match my pre-ovulation temps from when I was TTC. If I'm ovulating then there HAS to be a change in hormones to trigger that, and that should be evident in a temperature shift. From when I was temping before I'd expect to see a gross temperature shift if I ovulate, even if the timings and sleep are a bit eratic and so there's a lot of scatter on the plot. So I figure at least I'll have an idea of whether I'm ovulating or not and roughly when, even if I can't pin it down as accurately as I'd like.

In addition to charting temperature and CM, you can also keep tabs on the postion of your cervix (if you can/want to reach it). Some women use ferning although I never have. Or you could get a bulk load of OPK sticks and do one a day. They may cost money but at least they're not time sensitive.

Choolie - I was still doing nightfeeds when I conceived this time - no periods though - very little cervical mucous either, the only things that tipped me off that I was fertile were an early miscarriage and then a BFP six weeks later. I'd only had sex twice since DD was born and both times we caught. We were told we'd only ever have babies using IVF so......

oh hellymelly i could kiss you - that's just what I want to hear!
it can happen! although i don't think we'd ever manage it on one go/

do you think all the fertility awareness stuff works if you haven't had a period? I also can't imagine taking my temp at the same time every morning before I move when i've got a demanding baby. I was convinced over xmas that i had fertile mucus but I suppose I would have had a period if i had been fertile.

i suppose lots of sex is the one thing to do on the offchance of ovulating but phew....

DD1 is 9.5 months, still BF and I've still no periods - but the general guide is that BF isn't a reliable form of contraception past 6 months regardless of how much the baby feeds, so I may well be ovulating.

I'm trying to get back into some of the fertility awareness stuff I used while we were TTC before to give me an idea of if/when I do ovulate, just in case DD decides to let us have a chance to do anything about it .

Last time my periods took a year to come back,but when they did I got pregnant with one go (literally one,not much opportunity when you co-sleep with a toddler)at 42 even though I was bfing three or four times at night and a lot during the day.now baby 8m and no periods yet,undecided about trying for a third!