How reliable is breastfeeding as contraception?

[McKayz]

I'm having a panic now!

DD decided to finally sleep in her basket last night for the first time in 6 weeks.

DH and I decided to make the most of a baby free bed and the condom broke. Could only happen to me!!

I have got my 6 week check in the morning so might ask about the MAP.

But how effective is EBF? She doesn't have any formula and still wakes overnight and I feed on demand.

Help please.

It's great if you want another baby. There are loads of unexpected siblings of ebf pfb's on here.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, though...

No it's not. We haven't decided on having number 4 yet and I certainly couldn't cope with another pregnancy yet.

Will have to get MAP

Bump for the daytime.

Really, really unlikely you are pg when your bf baby is just 6 weeks...but not impossible.

Sorry but it's not great (I learnt the hard way)

Bf is reliable (though not 100 per cent) - if the baby feeds frequently, and is solely bf, if the baby is under 6 mths, if the mum has not had a period. At 6 weeks a return to fertility would be very, very unusual, but nothing is impossible.

No period and she's always fed on demand.

But last night she slept from 10 til 4 and I read they had to do less than 6 hours at night. Which she usually does, last night was first time she has slept that long.

13 months between my DSs and DS1 was exclusively BF on demand. I didn't have my period back so BFP was a big surprise. Friend's boyfriend is 9 months 2 weeks older than his sister. Anything is possible!

My DTs are going to be about 12 months younger than DS

It's pretty reliable if you meet certain criteria, but not everyone does. There's some info about it here. Agree that it's very unlikely for you to be pregnant 6 weeks after birth.

I got pregnany while exclusively BF but my baby was over 5 months old. I agree it's unlikely but not impossible.

I decided to go with the MAP. I'm still not quite recovered from having SPD and I couldn't cope with being pregnant again.

It's obviously v. important to you to avoid pregnancy, so MAP sounds like a wise choice on this occasion. And LAM (Lactational Amenorrhea Method) might not be for you if it's going to stress you out.

But just for the record, the Royal College of Obs & Gynae has guidance which says that so long as LAM criteria are met, BF is over 98% effective as contraception. So LAM plus condoms should be extra safe (so long as blinking condom doesn't split).

There's some further info here: www.befertilityaware.co.uk/LAM.html Scroll down to link to leaflets produced by NHS Camden and the fpa (which gives you info on all contraceptive options)

And here's the RCOG guidance - if you really want to wow them with your knowledge at your 6 week checkup!
www.fsrh.org/pdfs/CEUGuidancePostnatal09.pdf

I ovulated as soon as I had one single 6hr gap between feeds - it was a one-off as he was feeding really frequently before and after. But it was enough to kickstart my fertility! Can't remember how old DS was then but he was very young - maybe around 6 weeks. Just saying...

Hmm. That is unfortunate. There's quite a few here who've got pregnant - which is odd when it's meant to be over 98% effective, same as condoms and the mini-pill (and that's based on several massive research studies).

I used it myself (successfully), but only had minimal information, didn't know about the at least every 4 hours during the day and every 6 hours at night thing so just fed her on demand - which meant DD was spectacularly fat (fine now, thank goodness). And I only used it for 5 months.

I didn't know that giving expressed milk or a dummy reduces efficacy but was lucky in that DD wouldn't accept either a dummy or a bottle (for expressed milk) and I had trouble expressing anyway.

Did those on this thread who fell pregnant while EBF, no period, baby under 6 months give expressed milk or use a dummy?