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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think it is fairly obvious that,,,

42 replies

emmymama · 29/03/2010 17:22

you can get pregnant even if you are breastfeeding... since i bf dd who is 12 months and i am 20 weeks pregnant...

had a conversation about it with someone today,went like this...

her;you're pregnant? me; yeah,i'm 20 weeks now,
her;when did you stop breastfeeding? (not as strange a question as it looks, i'm very very pro breastfeeding my babies)
me;i still breastfeed
her;you cant get pregnant if you breastfeed
me;you can
her no, you cant, its a contraceptive
me;i'm 20 weeks and i still feed dd..
her no, you cant

i'm definately pregnant and i definately still breastfeed

suppose it makes a change from the usual, "you cant breastfeed if you are pregnant,,,erm, yeah you can!

OP posts:

skidoodly · 29/03/2010 18:50

belgo 8 weeks here for return of period, both times.

Pretty sure I'm not ovulating but no way would I risk it.

Actually really there is no risk right now...

Was still bfing dd1 when got pregnant with now 8 week old dd2.

SPBInDisguise · 29/03/2010 20:20

I do think some people are super fertile! I am not one of them

NorbertDentressangle · 29/03/2010 20:24

lol at the other woman's insistence.

She probably thinks you can't get pregnant standing up either

SPBInDisguise · 29/03/2010 20:28

Oh I agree if you're faced with a pregnant woman who tells you she is breastfeeding then you just kind of ...accept it!
Have to admit I can't remember what I thought pre-DCs, one of the following:

a) You can't get pregnant when you breastfeed
b) breastfeeding has no effect on fertility at all
or c) no one breastfeeds for more than a few weeks, surely?

I honestly have no idea!

CarGirl · 29/03/2010 20:34

With my youngest 2 my periods returned 6 weeks after they were born despite exculsive regular breast feeding, some people just are more fertile than others. Even the combined pill didn't control my bleeding, nor the mirena stop it, therefore my logic depicts this is why I am one of the lucky fertile ones whose periods returned so quickly

Tinuviel · 29/03/2010 21:03

I had a GP say he was surprised I was pregnant as I was still breastfeeding. DS1 was nearly 2 at the time and I was about 3 months pregnant. Now I really would expect a GP to know better!

couldntbebetter · 29/03/2010 21:16

My GP wouldn't prescribe me the pill after DD was born as I'd had fertility treatment to conceive and was BF which was in her words "an effective contraceptive".

DD was 14 mths when her younger brother was born!

ChippingIn · 29/03/2010 21:26

LOL - some people are funny aren't they. Depending on the mood I was in I would have said A) What part of I am still breatfeeding and am pregnant do you not understand? B) Of course you fucking well can - see (point at bump) C) Oh FFS use Google D) I know, I'm lying to you just for the hell of it...

or in RL - probably would have just laughed, shook my head and said - 'Well, them's the facts - I am still BF and I'm pregnant!'

couldn'tbebetter - did you approached the GP to pay maintenance for the baby you couldn't conceive?? (LOL I guess you must have been up for another one though or you'd have used another form of contraception!)

SloanyPony · 29/03/2010 21:32

There are lots of myths surrounding this.

It is not a myth that breastfeeding is a contraceptive and its not really fair to say its not a very good one as it prevents more births worldwide than all other methods of contraception put together.

There are some stipulations though (to do with exclusivity, including no dummies etc, co-sleeping is one I think or a certain amount of feeds throughout the night and intervals between feeds, age of baby, etc)

There are stipulations to all forms of contraception though. The pill is 99.something effective. But only if you take it!

notcitrus · 29/03/2010 21:46

It's a contraceptive in that it makes you less likely to ovulate, but you only need to ovulate once...

I've been getting the opposite end of the argument as I've been trying to get referred back to a gynae for lack of periods. So they ask what happened when I last saw him: I took drugs, had two periods, then didn't have any again for 9 months before establishing that part of that was because I was 4 months pregnant. Double figures of medical professionals have told me I couldn't have been ovulating if I wasn't having periods!
I know it was unlikely, that's why it took me and my GP 4 months to notice, but certainly not impossible!

New GP understood that but didn't seem to realise that bfing pretty much on demand for a year (and then for another couple months) might be a factor in my having no periods since birth of 18mo ds. Given that the result was giving me the referral I wanted, I didn't really argue much.

MummyDoIt · 29/03/2010 23:13

Couldntbebetter - you are my alter ego!!! We had fertility problems and had to have IUI to conceive DS1. He was 14 months when DS2 came along! We always wanted two children and assumed we'd need fertility treatment to conceive again so were absolutely delighted when DS2 just happened along (once we'd got over the shock!!).

lovechoc · 30/03/2010 11:36

I won't be using any contraception after DS2 arrives, as I know I'm not fertile so when I'm BFing him, I won't be taking any form of contraception to stop a pregnancy (as I know myself that the chances of me conceiving are VERY slim). Willing to take the chance and tempt fate though, not everyone's choice but it's something I feel strongly about and am happy to let nature take it's course.

AMumInScotland · 30/03/2010 11:39

I think the worldwide effect of breastfeeding as a contraceptive also has to do with low levels of nutrition - the combination of bf and limited diet is a "double-whammy" to fertility, whereas in the West we only get the hormonal effect but not the "calorie" effect - we generally get enough food to support ourself, the baby and the return of ovulation. So our fertility is likely to return more quickly even with full bf than it will to a woman in a poorer country whose fertility is also affected by her diet, where the using up of calories to make breastmilk reduces the amount she has "spare" to allow ovulation to return.

LoveBeingAMummy · 30/03/2010 11:41

My mw was very at my gp who told me not to take the pill until my periods returned at my 6 week check, especially as her next appt was for a bf'ing mum who hadn't had a period but though she could feel a baby in her tum!

belgo · 30/03/2010 19:03

I was just going to make a similar point Amuminscotland. Not only do we have enough to eat, but many of us, myself included, overeat and are overweight. The amount of biscuits I eat probably meant that I was fertile very soon after birth despite bfing round the clock.

lovechoc · 30/03/2010 19:11

I ate like a horse and BF DS but never fell pg in all that time. obviously some of us are just extremely fertile and others not so.

AliGrylls · 30/03/2010 19:33

I thought it conferred some protection for a max of 6 months and then after that things gradually returned to normal.

It is funny - some people do just seem to be able to touch their h/p and they are preggers.

No matter what people say though, the evidence is that one can obviously get pregnant quite easily whilst bf'ing if fertile enough.

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