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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To feel pissed off my period is back ( the crimson bastard)

51 replies

Bumpandkind · 15/12/2013 12:28

I EBF day and night, co-sleep and use a sling about a third of our trips out. I thought this was meant to stop the return of periods post birth yet Ds is only 6 months and I've got my third pyramid already.

Anyone else?

OP posts:

TippiShagpile · 15/12/2013 17:35

Got my period back 8 weeks after ds1 was born (ebf etc etc). Got pg with ds2 shortly afterwards.....

CrohnicallySick · 15/12/2013 17:40

DD is 14 months and my periods still haven't returned

I'm cheating though, on the mini pill!

neunundneunzigluftballons · 15/12/2013 17:41

I daren't tell you how long it took for my period to come back it would be unfair heading towards 1.5 years it was a benefit of bf no one had mentioned before and it was great.

neunundneunzigluftballons · 15/12/2013 17:44

I also assumed sling and co sleeping give more access to the boob and so further delay fertility. We did a straw pole at our bf group and the average was about the year mark ish.

spilttheteaagain · 15/12/2013 17:49

YANBU. I started periods again yesterday and I couldn't be more fucked off. To be fair DD is 28 months. But I am full of immense hormonal RAGE. Crimson fucking bastard.

MooseBeTimeForSnow · 15/12/2013 18:01

I ebf to six months, still co-sleep and occasionally carry DS. My periods aren't back yet. DS will be 2 on the 27th!!

Onsera3 · 15/12/2013 19:15

Co sleeping means you're more likely to feed in the wee hours of morning which increases prolactin levels which in turn supress ovulation. Maybe an attachment parenting book made that up not knowing that it actually had some science behind it.

Mine has still not returned at 14 mo but can feel my ovaries stirring and making my endo flare up. Crimson bastard indeed!

bluecheeseforbreakfast · 15/12/2013 19:18

I think that possibly your body releases hormones when you are close to your baby that make your body think no need for a period, I already have a baby to look after.

If your baby sleeps in a seperate bed or room and they are in a pushchair instead of being carried by you then there would be less of that hormone released.

thebody · 15/12/2013 19:23

er what crap sorry, I EBD all my children for a year and did not co sleep or sling.

you hardly let them cry because you have to reach over to the cot beside the bed to breast feed just as you can actually lift a baby from a pram to breast feed, you don't need a sling!

if you bf you bf! quite resent the implication that you need to sling and co sleep to do it properly.

thebody · 15/12/2013 19:24

and they bf at least 3 hourly so there!

GoodtoBetter · 15/12/2013 19:24

Ha! I ebf DD and got my period back at 11 weeks. I was fucking furious.

CantaSlaus · 15/12/2013 19:31

I'm nearly 9 months into bf and no periods back as yet, but I had the implant put in at 8 weeks pp so I'm not sure if that's contributing, although I still had periods when on it before. I'm hoping it stays away a while longer and I'm going to get a mooncup to try when it does come back.

CrazyThursday · 15/12/2013 19:34

I had a mini mini period at about 3 months. Then the crimson bastard (love this) came back for real on DD's first birthday. Just what I needed on my last day of mat leave, trying to get my head around dd going to nursery etc.

Loveyouthree · 15/12/2013 19:37

Am I weird to like having periods?

I like knowing that I'm fertile, should the need to ever have another child arise

ThisIsMeNow · 15/12/2013 19:39

Sorry but yabu.
I ebf dd, no dummies for months, co slept yada yada yada.
Af back at 5.5 weeks. A week after post natal bleeding stopped.

To top it all off im now struggling to get pg again!!

Bastard body

Showy · 15/12/2013 19:51

thebody, nobody but nobody has said that you have to co-sleep or use a sling to be better or to do it properly, whatever that might mean. It's merely a reference to the likelihood that if you co-sleep or use a sling, the baby is closer to the breast more of the time and will often feed more frequently and ovulation will be delayed for longer. Take night weaning for example, a baby who is in bed with you, level with the breast, might stir, smell the milk and decide to feed for comfort/familiarity/whatever. If the same baby was in a bed and the breast wasn't there then perhaps they would self settle without breastmilk occurring to them as an option. Same with dummies. Babies like to suck as a reflex and if your baby isn't given a dummy and they ask for the breast instead, this has an effect on the suppression of lactation. It's not a value judgement but a fact. Different choices have different effects. Nothing to do with better or worse.

And then, as the op and others highlight, the crimson bastard often does what it like anyway.

Gillysilly · 15/12/2013 19:59

18 month here.

Despite full time work from 13 months where I spent 7-9 hours away each day.

I blame the poor sleep/failure to night wean still fed every 2-3 hours through the night until around 18 months when my periods came back.

Gillysilly · 15/12/2013 20:01

I felt much better and happier once my periods returned.

Marylou2 · 15/12/2013 20:04

The crimson bastard . Mine was back a month after DD was born.

Imsosorryalan · 15/12/2013 20:09

Hate it! Very embarrassed today as it's my 1st heavy day and we has dds school friend to play with her mum. We are sat down having coffee, I get up to get something only to see on return that I had leaked and there was a massive crimson bastard on the cream seat cushion
She very diplomatically had looked the other way but must have seen it as the chair was pushed out!! Oh the shame...

YouLoveItDoreen · 15/12/2013 20:11

18 months here too, as soon as I returned back to work, it was horrid though as I was completely unprepared at work when it happened, cue me mid-contract trying to wrap things up,grabbing paper that was not mine etc.

Fairylea · 15/12/2013 20:11

I have never breastfed either of my dc however I have a pituitary tumour which secretes prolactin- the same hormone responsible for the production of breastmilk so I know a little about it...

Just because your prolactin level is raised does not mean you won't ovulate. If it is particularly high (ie if you ebf and are feeding very regularly) there is less chance of ovulation because prolactin levels will be higher, but it is just a chance. Every woman is different and for a lot of people a raised prolactin level has very little effect except tiredness and swollen breasts! (The same as early pregnancy).

I have a prolactin level which is in the 4000 at times (depending on medication I take) and I have still had the odd period - and my levels are hugely more than someone who breastfeeds.

So basically never assume you won't ovulate, get ppregnant or have a period because you are breastfeeding. Despite my prolactin levels I have had two healthy planned pregnancies - I was on medication to reduce the levels but they were still very high and periods extremely irregular.

NarcissaPoetica · 15/12/2013 20:12

DS was exclusively BF for 6 months, and mainly BF until 16 months (weaning was almost non-existent and a right PITA). My crimson bastard returned 6 weeks after the birth of DS.

I have had the Mirena coil for 4 years now. My crimson bastard (accompanied by its BFFs, the flaming cramps) has popped along for an unwelcome yet extended visit every single month without fail.

YANBU.

WhereIsMyHat · 15/12/2013 20:15

I feel your pain, my bastard period came back 12 weeks after my 3rd was born. He ticked all the boxes for it not too. In fact, for the first time ever it became a clockwork and textbook 28 day cycle. Fuck sake.

It disn't come back until I stopped BFing his two older brothers completely!

Wibblypiglikesbananas · 15/12/2013 20:22

EBF DC1 for 17 months. AF returned when she was 10 weeks old.
EBF DC2, currently 8 weeks, AF returned 5 weeks post emergency c-section and a week after pp bleeding stopped.
I feel your pain...

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