To question my gp's advice and ask mumsnet?

[MrsVidic]

Hi I usually always take gps advice and respect their training etc. However yesterday my dd2 had her 6 week check. Contraception came up in the appointment- I explained where I do want more children I want a gap of minimum 3 yrs before ttc.
Now her advice was as you are bfeeding exclusively you won't need to use anything until she is weaned.
Now dd2 sleeps for up to 8 hrs in a row some nights and was concieved very easily.
Is bfeeding reliable contraception?

I was sent home from the hospital with strict instructions to use contraception unless I wanted to be back in the labour ward within a year. A bit dramatic, but better than your doctor's rubbish advice.

emilizz it can be up to 98% effective and the baby's age is not the only proviso. For any chance of effectiveness it is also considered essential for the baby to be feeding through the night, consistantly. The OP's baby is sleeping 8hrs at night. fertility hormones are naturally at their highest at night.

Shall I take DS2 to your GP's office and show her how good EBF is at preventing pregnancy? Eh? Eh?

Also, as an aside, getting mildly inebriated on cheap champagne is also very very rubbish at preventing pg

DH has been snipped. Thank fuck.

I know PLENTY of people who have gotten pregnant whilst breastfeeding (not all of them on purpose either!)

I also think you should complain about this "advice". I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that your GP risks ruining some poor woman's life if she carries on telling people this.

My midwives ALL told me that I needed to be super-careful straight after having DS.

I might also add that MW at my local hospital wave of mothers who decline contraception with a cheery 'see you next year'

pinot

I am a classy bird :o

No that is terrible advice. It may be more unlikely if you are pregnant, but not impossible. make a complaint about that advice.

Pinot, a further interesting fact is that a wine fuelled night of debauchery can lead you to realise the morning after that you inserted the cap incorrectly, you then decide with dh that the map is unnecessary as youre period only finished 3 days ago.

The interesting side effect of such events occur in exactly 6 weeks later when you stop dead in the middle of Disneyworld and go "Fuuuuuuck! I'm fucking pregnant"
Your PiLs then wonder why you and dh are wondering round the Magic Kingdom looking scared shitless.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

If you were to call your mw she would tell you how many of these she has delivered! Go back and get contraception.

Ps even my hv was disgusted at this advice

People who use BF as a method of contraception are generally known as second-time mums.

Shocked your gp is so ignorant, this is basic and please use contraception.

I have just finished my ante natal classes and at the last one we were warned, vociferously, that breastfeeding is not an effective method of contraception and to ensure we all use contraception as soon as we start having sex again unless we want a small age gap.

My aunt can testify to that, with a 13 month gap between her two, EBF, children.

Thanks for the advice- so glad I asked! I'm really as I explained I'm getting married Jan 2013 and don't want to get preg before then. She is nice thou don't want to get her into trouble but may as suggested write and question the advice. Who do you contact (would prefer to do it so that she is educated rather than disciplined if you see what I mean)

Discuss it with the HV who is based at your GP surgery. She will be ina position to challenge the GP.

Alternatively, go back to see the GP just to "clarify the advice" and say that you have been told differently.

GP's are not infallible but this is an awful schoolboy/girl error.

It would probably work. If it didn't work then you'd probably get a period to give you warning that you needed to start to take additional precautions. I'm assuming that "probably" isn't good enough?

Lulu, if you wait till 1st period, you could already be pregnant .

On the + side, I went 36 months without a period.

Women who breastfeed have a delay in resumption of ovulation postpartum due to prolactin-induced inhibition of pulsatile gonadotropin-releasing hormone release from the hypothalamus. While breastfeeding is associated with subfertility, it only can be relied upon to prevent pregnancy when specific conditions are met:

The woman is less than six months postpartum
She is breastfeeding exclusively (ie, not providing ANY food or other liquid to the infant)
She is amenorrheic

If these conditions are not met, the risk of unintended pregnancy while breastfeeding is high

YET again (feeling like a broken record here), you ovulate 2 weeks (or so) BEFORE a period. So being amenorrheic is NOT foolproof. Nor is exclusive breastfeeding. Periods came back at 6 months, 4 months and 6 months with my exclusively BF, not sleeping but feeding through the night daughters. So, if we had not been using contraception, I could have been pregnant again at 5.5 m, 3.5m and 5.5 m post partum.

With both my kids, the MWs and the hospital specifically warned that bf was NOT a form of contraception.

I ex bf both of mine. Periods returned at 4 months with DS and 3 months with DD - they were feeding every 1-2 hours. Age of baby and frequency of feeds means absolutely nowt.

You should complain, really. If she spouts this rubbish to you, it means she does to others. And those others might not think to ask MN for advice!