Damn hormones, damn health visitor

[aliphil]

The HV assured me my periods would not come back until I stopped bf-ing. DD is 15 weeks and ebf (barring a few top-ups when she wouldn't feed in the first week, but I shouldn't have thought that would make a difference at this stage), and I got my period last Saturday. Is this, as I suspect, perfectly normal and yet another example of the HV getting it wrong? And is there any reason other than nerves why I shouldn't start using my mooncup again?

: Not fair, not fair, my ff-ing friends haven't had theirs back yet!

well on the upside it may be the only one for a while. Of course it may not. I had about 3 periods in the first year at random intervals, they've been back regularly since she was about 16 months old.

But yes, she know's not what she's talking about, it's different for every mother and child pair. Can't see any reason not to use your cup either.

I started bleeding again 6 weeks after having my son and doctor said it was probably just a period. It's not uncommon, so your HV is talking rubbish by saying you definitely won't get one.

It's quite likely they'll be irregular though like shuckleberry said, so it might not be back next month.

Agree its a pain though, you think one of the advantages of BF is avoiding periods awhile.

Yeah your HV is talking crap, my friend fed all 4 of hers and the longest she ever went was 7 weeks.

Thanks everyone. My HV talks a lot of crap so I'm not surprised!

Mine too Ali.

My baby is 18 weeks and EBF and I've been having random bleeding/spotting on and off since the lochia tailed off so it could be that for you? It's definitely not proper periods that I've had as a) I'm charting and know I haven't ovulated, b) even the ones heavy enough to use my mooncup have been lighter/shorter than a period and c) they range from 1-4 week intervals.

Also, rather than the exclusiveness (or not) of your breastfeeding, key aspects that affect your fertility are time period between feeds (long gaps mean a bigger drop in prolactin and greater chance of ovulating) and a sudden decrease in amount of breastfeeding (not sure the reason for that but presumably it triggers a drop in prolactin which then allows ovulation).

I bf dd round the clock, hourly usually, at least 2 hourly, no dummies, she was voracious. Periods back at 12 weeks, 28 day cycle immediately.

DS slept through from being tiny, fed efficiently, big gaps between feeds, periods back at 12 months and a bit random at first.

Annoying isn't it?

Thanks Poem. I'm pretty sure it was a period; the lochia tailed off weeks ago and I've had nothing in between. But good to know about the frequency thing (even if it doesn't always work, as for ThreadPeople!).

Both DDs ebf, with both my periods cames back after about 8 weeks - regular as clockwork.

Came back at 8 months here when still feeding.

I exclusively bfed with all of mine and each time my periods returned at 4 months. I think it may have coincided with the boys sleeping through the night.

There are no rules here! I couldn't bf exclusively at all but topped up for a year... Period returned after 11 months, a few weeks after I dropped the night feeds...