BF & fertility (again)

[AngelDog]

I know there have been a few threads on this recently, but I wondered whether anyone could give me some advice.

DS is 16 m.o., my periods haven't returned yet and we want to TTC DC2.

I've read Kellymom and other stuff on here and I think I need to suddenly drop a few feeds to kick-start my periods. DS went on nursing strike for a fortnight at 13 months and a couple of weeks later I had period-like cramping, which I assumed was my body getting ready to get going again, but I've had no other symptoms since.

I was wondering whether it would work to feed more often for a while, and then reduce feeds all at once to slightly less than the number he has now. Any experiences?

At the moment his feeding pattern is roughly:
07.00 (on waking)
12.00 (feeds to sleep for nap)
19.00 (feeds to sleep at bedtime)
23.00

He'll usually take another feed immediately after his nap if I offer and will sometimes take a feed at other times of the day if we're at home.

I think I could easily drop the first feed of the day, but I'm really reluctant to stop feeding before sleep as he struggles with sleep. I don't particularly want to completely night wean as often bf is the only way he'll go back to sleep without being up for an hour and a half.

Annoyingly, he's never really asked for feeds (I've always just offered) but the last couple of days he's started saying 'Muh!' and grabbing at my top, so it doesn't feel like a good time to be trying to feed him less. However, there are lots of reasons why the next year would be a good time to have DC2 an why the year after would be more difficult, so we're keen to get on with TTC'ing asap.

Hiya :) There is (or was) a longrunning thread in Conception which I would recommend - was an enormous help to me, for both sharing info and getting support.

From my personal experience, my periods returned when I went back to work (part-time) when DD was around 12 months but my cycles were very long for ages and I'm reasonably sure that they were anovulatory for quite a long time. I was very reluctant to nightwean for various reasons but I'm sure it was key to me personally conceiving again - it only took a few months after nightweaning after 14+ months of trying.

Charting was also really helpful as my cycle was so out of whack for such a long time after my periods came back.

Kellymom, annoyingly, isn't great on this, though I've heard Take Charge of Your Fertility is (but didn't get around to reading it so can't comment properly).

Hope some of that is helpful and good luck :)

Thanks, Dita. I'll have a look at that thread.

When you say charting, do you mean temperature and EWCM? I've always had erratic cycles (varying between 31 and 78 days ) so I think doing that would probably be helpful for me too.

I did read TCOYF a while back but I can't remember any of the details now so I'll perhaps have another look at it.

Let me know if it isn't obvious and I'll try to dig it out :)

Yeah, BBT charting - it is a bit of a faff but quite soothing (you feel as though you are actually doing something) and very interesting. Not sure how much you are feeding in the night at the moment though - that can make it slightly less accurate (annoyingly).

hello, I'm on the charters anonymous thread and also ttc while bf and can confirm they are both very friendly and supportive. :)

my cycles seem to have been quite regular since not long after i went back to work and started expressing though. my 19mo is down to only a couple of feeds a day now unless he's ill or teething etc.

wishing you all the best in ttc.

Thanks - I found both threads. :)

Charting worked for me last time, but I've forgotten everything I knew about conception now so will have to re-read stuff. Night feeds are very variable - always at least one, but the rest depends on how unsettled DS is - can be no more, or 5+.

I think my current plan is to work on offering more often and then plan on dropping again.