why has this happened again?

[flowerfairy]

am now breast feeding dd, dc#2, she is now almost 5 wks and i'm pretty certain my periods have returned despite exclusively bf. This also happened with dc#1at abvout 6wks. why has this happened? any ideas. Was looking forward to having slightly longer without periods. didn't know whether this was the right place tp put this or not.

some women are just lucky like that

Aw no! You poor thing. Maybe next time?
Does she go long at night? Or more than 4 hours in the day between feeds?

some of us are just unlucky, I think. with ds1 it happened about 6 weeks, with my dts about 3 months. this time though Ive only had one more since then, at around 5 months, and stayed light, so perhaps that's some hope?

Is your LO sleeping through the night?

Is she a quick feeder, I think it's related to total suckling time and that we don't generally feed on true demand, maybe every 2 hours.

I agree it is annoying

japh, I've heard this myth, about a baby needing to space feeds to get periods back. my ds1 didn't sleep more than 2 hours (at best, more often 40 minutes) till 10/11 months old, and one or other of these dts wake every 1-2 hours or so. some of us are just really, really unlucky :(

although I recall reading (in Politics of Breastfeeding, I think it was?) that a high calorie diet encourages their early return, and I do admit to a chocolate rich diet in the early days of bf

I was reading about this today, apparently if you go for >6 hours between bf (e.g. at night) or use a dummy, then your periods are more likely to begin again.

I'm currently weaning DS from bf at night, so it's been on my mind too!

Mamachoc - It's not a myth, just doesn't work with everyone it seems. but it's roughly 4 hours in the day and 6 hours at night can kick start periods (or the hormones for ovulation)

WoT, I promise I have not gone that long without feeding a baby in almost 6 months! I would be less grumpy about their return were I getting 6 hours sleep at night, but I'm not. Not even 2 hours at a time.

For what proportion of women does this 4/6 hours MYTH rule fail?

I don't know percentages but the vast majority. LAM is, in the first 6 months roughly as effective as the mini pill. wiki's take LLLi. Worked for me too :) but with DS2 and DD I got pregnant on first ovulation (and we were using contraceptives when I got pg with DD ) so no warning.

Prob not what you want to hear but my son was going at least 7 hours without feeds at night from about 11 weeks but my periods didn't return until almost 8 months. I count myself lucky - on all counts.

Yeh my son has been going roughly 10 hrs at night since he was about 12 wks (he's now 22 weeks) and I haven't had my period return yet.

Thanks for all your replies. HAve had several nights where dd has cluster fed from 5pm ish until 10 or 11 then slept for 4-5 hours. Usually she only manages 2 hours in the day. It has been particularly light and lasted about 5 days. Still keep having some cramps so keep thinking i might get another one sooner rahter than later. (Or is this a side effecft from pg)? Will also try and cut down on the chocolate biscuits. Well maybe!!!!