has anyone become pregnant whilst bf-ing...........

[mum2samandalex]

im 7 wks postnantal and still cant decide on a birth control method and so both my midwife and doctor have said that im pretty much covered by breastfeeding anyway so not to worry too much unless i decide to wean baby off and which case i need to sort out an alternaltive method.is this true? The doctor did say that with any method though it isnt 100% but didnt say what the percentage was for this method.Has anyone used this as a birth control method ?

if you dont want a baby sister/ brother for sam and alex anytime soon you better buy some condoms

Thankyou i most definitely well although the ive just pushed the baby out of my vagina method is working for me too at the moment

i got pg first month of trying when bf my 15 mth old but my daughter was only having am feed and a feed before bed and i had had my periods back for about 6 months by then. My mum got pg with my sister when still bf me as well

I wasn't allowed to leave the hospital until the mw had signed a piece of paper stating she had told me bf was not a reliable method of contraception. GP told me again at least 3 times during my 6 week check. Funny how different mws/gps tell you different things...

This information on KellyMom suggests that, in typical usage, BF is a more reliable form of birth control than the pill AS LONG AS certain conditions are met, namely:

• baby is < 6 months old
• your periods haven't returned (either in actuality or just feeling hormonal on a cycle)
• your baby is exclusively demand fed, day and night.

I'm still BF DD (11 months) and no sign of a period, but she does spend quite a lot of each day feeding still

the problem with that is that a period is the END of a cycle not the beginning. so you can ovulate and conceive without having a period to warn you that your fertility has returned

I got pg while still bf lots, day and night, although my baby was 9 months old.we were happy but a bit surprised as i also had been diagnosed with thyroid problems ( which can affect your fertility)and i was 42

the biggest surprise TBH was that we were pretty sure that we had used condoms on the VERY VERY few occasions that we had BD....lets face it, we had 2 small children including a Bf baby in the bed most of the night and we were very sleep deprived

my only explanation is that i was asleep at the time and had nothing to do with it

Congrats on your pregnancy (or is that a 3rd baby now? Congrats either way )

According to that link I posted it's quite uncommon to ovulate before your periods come back. It's MORE common to have a couple of annovulatory periods as your cycle re-stabilises.

It doesn't claim the Lactation Awareness Method is a 100% preventative, but the research has shown that as long as those 3 conditions are met you've a 2% or under chance of conceiving (just 0.5% if you use it perfectly). By comparison, the theoretical conception rate for women on the pill is 0.3% (8% in reality) and for the male condom it's 2% (15%!). So yes, it's possible to conceive while you're breastfeeding, even if your baby is under 6 months old and all the rest - but arguably BF a young baby exclusively and on demand is a more reliable form of contraception than some of the common alternatives.

It was quite funny at my 6 week check when the Dr got round to talking about contraception. Our answer was along the lines of "oh no - we're not planning on using any. In fact I might be pregnant again already!". Took him a while to work out we were pulling his leg

We're starting to think about another one but I'm pretty sure I'm not ovulating yet so we'll just have to wait and see. But I'd be more than happy to get a +ve test before AF reared her ugly head again

I got PG whilst exclusively BF DD. She was 5 months old and periods had not returned.

IMO if you do not want another pg do not rely on the low risk, much as i love ds this is what we did and OMG what a shock.

I have 14 months between my 2 wee ones, was breast feeding and became pregnant, dont rely on it unless its not too much of a prob to have another one! Good luck!

Yes

my lovely cousin gat knocked up again after the health visitor told her bf would be an effective contraceptive - ffs! There is 14 mths between her girls.

I was exclusivley breastfeeding, day & night & there is just under a year between my two! Needless to say this time I am using a more reliable method!

Sorry - to elaborate, I think that to say that BF is an effective contraception with no elaboration is very bad advice. BF can be an effective form of contraception but, as with all forms of contraception, there are limitations. Failing to explain those limitations is leaving women open to unexpected pregnancies - many of which won't be as welcome as most of those on this thread seem to have been

This is one of these circumstances where everybody is completely different.

Some women cannot conceive at all until they have completely weaned their baby from the breast and others, as we have seen on this thread, can and do conceive very quickly and easily.

There are also varying degrees of the return of fertility. It is possible to be bleeding with no ovulation (anovulatory bleeding) and it is also possible to be ovulating and bleeding but with a short luteal phase. This is what is currently happening to me and it's a bummer because I am actually wanting to conceive whilst breastfeeding. (DS is 2.4 may I add!) However, unless you are completely clued up about spotting the signs of your returning fertility and are in a position where another pregnancy wouldn't be a bad thing, then I would no more trust breastfeeding as contracteption than jump in the air.