BF 1 Year old and want to get pregnant in Summer...should I stop BF to let my body recover?

[2tiredmama]

My baby who turned 1 last week and I both enjoy BF and it's at a lovely stage where he crawls over to me for it which makes it very rewarding and hard to think of saying no to him if I wean him. I work full time and I only went back 5 weeks ago and I am finding it exhausting and low and behold I have a ear and throat infection as I'm run down already. We want to try for another baby around June which is only 3 months away and I am vegetarian and I never seem to have the energy of other people despite eating well. I don't intend on doing tandem feeding when another baby comes anyway but wondering should I stop BF now to let my body, energy, nutrient stores recover somewhat before pregnancy comes along and to increase chances of falling pregnant as planned as I'm thinking I wouldn't manage BF and pregnancy anyway with morning sickness etc.
If no second baby was planned this year I wouldn't be stopping BF so it's a hard choice but I'm 34 this year and we don't want a big age gap. All advice welcome please!!

Has your cycle come back normally? I found that taking B vitamin complex and iron supplements kept me on an even keel and gave me a regular cycle for TTC.

I would hazard a guess it's the change in routine that has pushed you over, rather than the bf itself. A year-old normally doesn't take a lot of milk, but he is likely to be compensating for the fact you are absent a lot of the time by making up for it when you are around. This will settle, I promise.

I bf during of four pregnancies (two mc and a total of three DC) and it is hard work, but I considered it easier than weaning which felt too much like I was abandoning one baby in the hopes of the next. Overemotional perhaps!!

Good luck with ttc#2.

Was going to say almost exactly the same as the Countess (except only BF during two pregnancies - one mc and then DS2, DS1 self-weaned when I was about 5 months pregnant with his brother). I suspect you're exhausted because of going back to work and settling into a new routine while having a small baby, and you probably wouldn't be much less so if you weren't BF. Also recommend B vits and something with iron in it.

I had no problem whatsoever getting pg while breastfeeding, fwiw, at the entirely geriatric age of 39. :)

Thanks ladies. My cycle came back about 5 months ago but the cycle hasn't settled yet ranging from 28 - 40 days so far not sure if this is because of BF so i wonder if this will hinder working out fertility when we TTC?? I have never stopped taking pregnacare and ferrograd C since being pregnant as being vegetarian and BF I felt I needed something and pharmacist agreed as my energy was lagging as any new mother's would! Do you mind me asking if it took long to conceive when BF? and did you find being pregnant and BF extra hard versus the first pregnancy with no BF? Thaks in advance!

Hard to tell whether it was harder because so little was the same.

I think we conceived on the second cycle of trying (mc), then the second again (DC2). Then the fourth (mc) and first (DC3).

There's about two and a half years between each pair of children. You may consider that too far apart. I like it.

Hello,

I went back to work when baby was 10 months old. I'm a doctor in acute medicine and it is VERY busy and stressful, long shifts. I work part time, though this frequently is more than 40 hours a week anyway. I work nights, evenings, weekends, etc.

I won't lie, I was absolutely run down and exhausted for the first few months. Adjusting to life back at work after the loveliness of mat leave was very hard.

I also was ill constantly for a couple of months. I don't know if this was picking up things at work (though I thought I was immune to everything by now!!) or baby going to nursery - they catch so many things at nursery.

My boyfriend and mum frequently wondered if breastfeeding was making me more run down. I guess it's hard to know. I was also always exhausted - but I don't know if that's a toddler, my job, or bf!!

At 14 months we night weaned (I work night shifts sometimes anyway) and I have been a lot better since then, with an uninterrupted night's sleep every night. (If she wakes up in the night DP goes to her.)
We are now at 17 months, and I am 11 weeks pregnant. This is tiring, but I've not had any particularly problems with breastfeeding. In fact when I am sick and tired and struggling to be a good mother, it's quite nice that we still have that lengthy morning snuggle (she only feeds once a day now). I don't know if I want to tandem feed, just taking it a week at a time.

I only took a month to get pregnant.

My periods came back around a year (I was still night feeding at the time, but only once or twice a night). They were very irregular.
Everyone is different though. I believe you can try changing the pattern of your feeding if you are having trouble - there is a thread in conception about ttc while bf.

I am also 34. When I first went back to work, somebody told me it would take at least 6 months to feel like my old self there again - they were correct. Be nice to yourself whatever you decide, it's a tough time!

Second month trying both times, and didn't find early pregnancy notably worse with BF (ie still felt kind of hungover and seasick).