Period whilst Breastfeeding

[pinkposey]

Hi

I am sure that this question may already have been asked and forgive me if so, but my time to hunt around and check is limited...:-). My baby is 8 weeks old. I am exclusively breastfeeding, and this morning I began my period. A small google research tells me that is ok, but I want to know more. Does this have any implications for the breastmilk my baby is receiving? I don't seem to drip much from my nipples like other women, and I certainly have no need for breastpads to clear up the leakage etc. I had understood that there'd be more milk. I'm hoping that I am producing sufficient milk for him, and that this period doesn't signify that there is less milk than we'd expect and he'd need?

He seems to be doing fine and apart from this, it doesn't seem like I have much to be concerned about, but I feel I would like more information on what getting the period means to my own body and for my baby.

Thank you!!

xxx

My periods came back when dd was 13 weeks old. I bfed exclusively to 28 weeks and continued to bfeed until dd was 3.4

There is no reason why this should affect bfing. Some women experience a very slight dip in supply at the time their period arrives but this is not usually significant and you just keep offering the breast.

Leaking isn't a sign of too little milk. In fact it's sometimes a sign of oversupply and not leaking is a sign your body has the balance right. Your baby's happiness, wees, poos, weight gain etc should tell you everything you need to know.

9 weeks for me, I was not pleased! It was never a problem though, I never noticed a dip in supply or sore nipples or any of that stuff. Here is some info.

I win :( 6 weeks for me, less than two weeks after my lochia stopped.

And my mum managed to conceive my sister while still EBFing me :)

I had a period at 6 weeks too, then another at 10 weeks and then not another until a very light one at 26 weeks. Hasn't had any impact on my milk or supply, but I have been careful not to get knocked up!

Periods often come back sooner if you're taking vitamin supplements. I'm not sure why, but studies with a group of African women who all exclusively breastfed and relied on it as a form of contraception showed that soon after they were given vitamins to "support" their milk production, in many cases, their periods returned.

My periods returned fairly on, despite exclusively breast-feeding DD (I took supplements). Quite useful actually, as I didn't want to wait too long before TTC....

I started at 12 weeks, despite breastfeeding until DC was 1.

The only bad thing about was it gave me insane water retention with my pmt towards the end of the year, really painful, difficult to cope with. i was so happy to give up when I'd got to 12 months. DC showed no sign of having a problem with the milk at any point.

i was bloody looking forward to another year off periods so that was annoying to! but clearly some women just do come on again, some don't (have a friend who gave up at a year as well, her DC is now 2 and she still hasn't had a period ) so it can't make any difference to breastmilk at all.