breastfeeding as a contraceptive

[feekerry]

how reliable is it? how does it work?
i ebf my 16 weeks old dd on demand- and i mean totally on demand. she's never had a bottle ever, not even of expressed milk. i let her suck for feed, comfort etc whenever/wherever. i've not had a period yet.
am i okay to have unprotected sex and not risk getting pregnant? i know no contraceptive is 100% but is it like 99.%

Erm, no.

In a word.

You could still be ovulating...!

it's pretty reliable in those circumstances

see here

Not sure on the stats but I know people who've got pregnant while ebf
There are pills you can take while bf

personally i'd rather use something else as well though, just in case!

We haven't been too careful recently thats why i'm a bit worried but read up on it and under certain circumstances it looks very reliable but i'm still not sure!

I am still waiting for a first AF after DC2's birth ... just under sixteen months ago. It's working as a very effective contraceptive for us at the moment more's the pity

On the other hand, I've known people have two children in eleven and fourteen months respectively by relying on ebf as a contraceptive. Trouble is, the first egg can be released before the first period...!

If we weren't actively ttc we certainly wouldn't be relying on bf as a contraceptive unless we'd be happy to have a surprise.

It's not reliable at all as you have no idea when your periods will start up again but you will ovulate before the first period. If you want to be certain of not getting pregnant then use another form of contraception.

my 1st period started 3 months after the birth despite doing the same as you. You only need your baby to go a few hours without a feed for ovulation to restart apparently.

I'm friends with someone who was conceived under those circumstances - 8 weeks after her sister was born.
Don't fret about what's happened to date. Maybe do a pregnancy test in 4 weeks if you're anxious. But from now on use some form of contraception.

I was breastfeeding my dc4 and hadnt had any periods since the birth, i started feeling sick and found out i was pregnant ith dc5. We had had sex once since the birth although oddly the dates dont match for the pregnancy...the only other way i could have got pregnant at that time is um - how to put this - transfer in other ways .
I must have got pregnant the very first opportunity.
dc5 is 5 months now

I did exactly the same as you OP, totally exclusive breastfeeding and I had my first postnatal period at 17 weeks. We were already using condoms as I couldn't take the gamble!