Breastfeeding as contraception

[Jasper]

My 5 month old baby is exclusively breastfed ( no bottles, dummies, cups, EBM, formula etc) and my periods have not returned.He feeds several times through the day and between one and three times in the night.
I know I should not rely on bf as a failsafe contraception as I will ovulate before my first period so will be technically able to get pregnant before my period, but based on any research you are aware of, or even from collective anecdotal evidence, how likely is this?
I don't want to get pregnant again soon ( and there is not a whole lot of sex going on I should add!!)but the contraceptive alternatives available at the moment are not attractive propositions.
Thanks in advance

Never ever take the risk.

I got pregnant with number 3 whilst breastfeeding number 2 ( age 7 months). Admittedly he was not exclusively B/F at the time and my periods had returned. As you all know I am a midwife so I am not going to give any advice here .
What I will say is that it is OK to use exclusive B/F as a method of contraception as long as it is not the end of the world if you get pregnant again. As long as your baby is having regular night feeds then it is less likely that you will fall pregnant. Not worth experimenting though if another pregnancy is out of the question.

"they" say after 6 months old... don't take it for granted - presumably because he will bf less.... you want another baby ????

i have 2 friends 1 one with a 4 month, one with a 6 month - both fell pregnant recently - not sure about the 'exclusivity' of b/f but i certainly wouldn't rely on it. I have heard some say that you become more fertile after birth ....

A family friend was a grandmother by the age of 30. She had her first daughter at 16 and thought that if she breastfed she wouldn't fall pregnant, she had another daugther less than 12 months later. Her daughter had her first child at 14 years old and also went for the b/feeding & contraception theory. She ended up being a mother to four boys by the age of 20.

I think this demonstrates that we are all different, some of us are more fertile than others.

Dejags, I can't believe that story. I really can't.

Jbr, me neither.

Jasper - I think it is unlikely you will get pregnant if EXCLUSIVELY breastfeeding (ie no formula or solids at all), but not impossible. As Mears said, don't rely on it if getting pregnant would be disastrous. Once solids are introduced, your first period should follow in the not too distant future, so be careful!

I posted some stuff on this on another board, can't remember which I am afraid. It seems to vary a lot as people's fertility varies so much. With my son I had no periods for 13 months and then very irregular ones for about another 6 months as I was still breastfeeding. The first 6 months are fairly safe as the baby is taking so much milk from you but once s(he) is on solids then the risk is much higher. I believe the baby has to feed 2-3 hours throughout the day and no longer than about 5 hours at night and of course no dummies etc as you state. Also if you sleep with your baby then you are likely to stay infertile for longer.

Here is a website of Lactational Amenorrhea Resources

www.nd.edu/~mmeineke/kelly/lam/lam.html

my sister is 11 1/2 months younger than me. Dad had terrible problems with the tax office (in those days you got extra allowances or some-it for the number of children) becuase they refused to believe you could have 2 babies born in the same tax year!!!

I don't know when I became fertile but I bf exclusively until DD was 5 mo and then started solids... she is now 1 and I am just getting my periods back... (still bf 2 to 3 times a day) so it can take quite a while after the weaning process to get your periods back (in my case 7 months).

I breastfed ds 'til he was 9 / 10 months - not exclusively of course, but my periods didn't return. I got pg with ds2 about a month before I stopped b/f. So I had no periods at all for about 3 years! We didn't use contraception after ds1 because I was happy to get pg again.

You could, like me easily get pg without any periods, so, like others have said, if it's out of the question for you, don't risk it! I was happy with my age gap - about 17 months, but it was a bit hard at first.

Mind you - I take my hat off to you - you've got more energy & patience than I have - 3 times a night! wow, I'm very impressed. would you have the energy for a second one?!

The mirena coil is worth looking into maybe - long discussions on it if you do a search. hth

Jasper I have to agree with everyone here that has said if you really don't want another don't take the risk. I know of a doctor that got pg 3 months after giving birth that way. You can take a pill (Mini I think) while feeding. It didn't suit me though as you have to remeber to take it the same time every day and I wasn't not that organised, even when I put them next to my toothbrush.

At my NCT class they said that the chance of getting pregnant whilst exclusively breastfeeding and still period free was 2% (not sure where the stat came from) but as below, if you don't want two babies too close together, best not rely on it.

My periods returned when ds was 17 weeks and exclusively breastfed and seam to have gone straight back in to their clockwork cycle - I feel if we'd not been using condoms, there's a good chance I'd be pregnant again now (ds is 25 weeks).

Thanks everyone for this.
I am not relying on breastfedding as contraception but was interested to have a better understanding of the the risks.
Janeway and Monkey, it would not be two babies close together, it would be four! (mine are currently 3 1/2, 20 months and five months)
No it would not be a disaster to get pregnant although my old body might seriously fall apart.
Lollypop, I had considered the mini pill, but don't I need to have a period first before I start taking it?
Eulalia,interesting stuff about frequency of feeds; on the days I work my baby goes for up to 5 hours without a feed so presumeably this increases the chance of ovulation and thus pregnancy.

oh wow jasper, I'm even more i mpressed - 3 little ones, plus 3 feeds a night, plus going out to work. How are you finding things with the 3rd - are you more relaxed / laid back, or totally stressed out?

what are the genders/ Just out of nosiness?

Monkey, do |I really HAVE to talk about my children? ...oh all right then
Boy, girl, boy.
I am very relaxed with the third one ( you may already have been bored to tears on the bf thread )because I seem to have cracked the bf thing for the first time and am very pleased with myself.Three feeds a night is rare, it is usually more like one, and he has slept from midnight till 7 a few times lately but he still has the odd "sooky" night.
Thanks for asking.
Afraid the housework has had to go to hell in the meantime but who cares?

It's almost worth having another, if it gets you out of doing the housework!

Jasper - where, oh where, do you get your energy from? Can you bottle it & sell it ?? !!

Back to your main subject - I went on the mini pill before periods returned & whilst breast feeding - no problems for me.

jasper, best not to rely on it i think! how do you manage to be so laid back with so many littlies? would love to meet you - hope we coincide at one of the meet ups some time - tho' i think you are in scotland and i'm in london. you never know!

I didn't get periods back until 1st baby was a year old just after I night-weaned him. My periods were very scanty and I only had two 5 weeks apart -- before we conceived 2nd baby. Who was... er, not exactly planned :-) She's now 10 months and I doubt I'll get a period again before she's over one (I don't plan to forcefully nightwean her, partly because I so like not having periods).

I have always heard that 9 months post-partum is an average for breastfeeding mothers.

Anecdotally, I get the impression that plumper women tend to get the menses back earlier. I'm not scrawny, but I get called skinny by friends.

Bossykate, thanks .I have a sister near London whom I sometimes visit - perhaps I can coincide a visit with the next meet up which in an odd way would be easier for me than a Scottish meet up.
I can tell you why I am laid back with so many littlies - my dh is a full time dad( yes, I know all parents are full time...but you know what I mean) and I go out to work
This means I have a laid back relationship with the children but an UNlaid back relationship with dh (must start a thread on this sometime)

Lindy, thanks for this info, I was not aware of that. Are there any side effects with the mini pill? Not sure I can claim to have lots of energy