Period return, 8 weeks postnatal excl BF

[scorpio1]

my period has returned today, 8 weeks and 4 days after baby born.

She sleeps 10-7 at night, but during the day i feed her whenever she wants for as long as she wants. She has one 6oz bottle of EBM a week, but i feed her as soon as i get up (its for my lie-in time, lol!)

My friend said i cannot be doing this right. i feel like crying; i thought i was? I am even feedig through thrush to make sure i do this for her.

please reassure me, help or anything? also is this why she has been a little fussy on the breast lately? last few days.

Yes you are doing it right. Tell your "friend" to bog off.

Some women (including me) just find that their period returns early regardless of how often they breastfeed their baby.

Babies go through fussy phases. It might just be that she is becoming more alert and fancies looking around a bit, but it is NOT because you are doing anything wrong.

With my eldest two my period returned at 8 weeks post partum, both were breastfed and were fine! With the youngest it was 9 months. I just took it that as a sign I was very fertile!
And yes, it probably is why she has fussed a bit at the breast, supply changes when you are due on. It goes back to normal though and causes no problems for the lo, I promise!

You are doing everything fine - and your period returning is perfectly normal once there is a sizeable gap between feeds at night. And since your dd is going 9 hours without feeding, that's to be expected.

she has put on nearly 3lb since birth and follows her centile perfectly, lots of poo and wee,settles fine etc. She is my third baby but first BF one so this part of motherhood is very new to me.

its totally normal.I have a friend who gets her periods back just a few weeks after her babies are born and she is still night feeding.

the reason your periods returned is that you are not feeding throughout the night. my mw told me that all it takes is an 8 hour gap between feeds to trigger ovulation. you are lucky in that your baby sleeps through the night though that means that you will ahve to be careful now!

Same thing happened with me and DD1 scorpio, it's probably because she is a good sleeper at night, I was told if you have a gap of more than 4 hours between feeds it triggers ovulation and hence periods. Mine came back at 8 weeks with DD1 and I fed her for a year, in fact got pregnant again when she was 9 months.

DD2 periods never came back for 11 months she was a milk monster and was up several times in the night for milk.

Babies go through fussy stages all the time nothing to worry about, your doing a great job ignore your friend. Sounds like she is doing fine if she's sleeping that long at night you lucky thing!

bethoo - my MW said 4 hours, always amazed me different MWs say different things.

I breastfed both of mine, on demand, including through the night. My period has come back twice at 8 weeks. It is not your fault or anything that you have done, you are just unlucky. Keep up the good work!

sweetkitty - thank god i was feeding every two hours otherwise i would have got pregers earlier than 10 months!!
weird how info is different in other parts of UK. you would think they would all sing from the same sheet!

You're doing everything fine. Your period has probably returned because you no longer have to do a night feed (it's like a trade off!)

The taste of your milk can change during ovulation and your period, which could be why your lo has got a bit fussy. Try and ignore it with a smile and things will most probably go back to normal in a few days.

she isnt very fussy, just pulls her latch on and off and kicks a bit and it hurts, because i am battling with thrush at the moment.

thankyou all

poor you. I have just won the battle with this-I hope-Gentian Violet did the trick for us.

bethoo - I found when I was first in hospital with DD1 one MW would come in tell you one thing then another would come in and tell you something different and make you feel like you were doing something wrong. By the time you get to number 2 or 3 they tend to leave you alone.

scorpio - it will be the thrush thats annoying her, I had it with both of mine too, drops for her cream for you and it will be fine

i have had it since about 2 weeks, im off to the GP today to ask for Fluconazole. i dont think he will give it to me.

we have tried everything else so far SK - drops, gel and cream for me and its still persisting.

Scorpio- my periods returned when dd1 was 7 or 8 weeks old, despite bfing two - three hourly day and night!

They were every five/six weeks until I became pregnant when dd1 was 9 months old.

If it's thrush, hope it gets treated.

And well done! Ignore your friend.

we found Nystatin drops didn't work, Actually got a lot worse during their use I read that some strains are getting resistant to treatment. Had tried daktarin oral gel before which helped but didn't knock it on the head totally. After lots of research decided to try gentian violet and taking large amounts of probiotics. which has actually worked. It slightly hung around in ds mouth after our 7 day GV treatment but has gone away in the couple of weeks since. think it killed enough of it that our bodies got back in balance with the probiotics.

sites like kellymom and la leche league have good thrush advice.

i have that leaflet from the breastfeeding network that the HV gave me (yes, nice health visitor!!)

What is this other stuff you are talking about? link please?

Wondered if this thread was from you Scorpio . Tell friend to stop worrying you, you're doing great! Must be if she's sleeping through the night and putting weight on nicely etc. Keep up the good work!

My af came back at 4 months. DD was still feeding every 2 hours day and night at the very least. I felt cheated! I do find that around ovulation she seems funny with feeding so that may happen for you too.

And I can sympathise with the thrush, it's horrid.

Sounds like you're doing amazingly well.

Mine returned straight away too. Six weeks of bleeding post natally then straight into a period both times. What does your friend know anyway? Every woman is different! I've had friends not get a period at all whilst they Bfed for a year, but others like you and me that went back into 'normal' periods straight away.

i think it maybe because she bf for 16 months first time and 8 months 2nd time and didnt get a period at all.

thanks i feel so much better!!

Its called Gentian violet -its an anti fungal.
Here are loads of articles on thrush on kelley mom

Some chemists stock gentian violet it but may have to order it or you can buy it online via ebay from Mistral labs. You only need few ml so buy the smallest bottle available. they only seem to have large amounts listed at the moment but probably 10ml would even be way too
much.

Here is the method I followed (I can't find the original link):
You need
gentian violet cotton 10ml is more than enough
Cotton buds
breast pads

Treating your baby:
When your baby is asleep after the last evening feed lay them down on their side (my son naturally sleeps like this you may have to wedge your baby with a rolled towel or something, with a terry square or muslin under their head to protect bedding if they dribble.

In your bathroom , over a sink, first wet the end of a cotton bud then dip in gentian violet-be careful with it, it stains.

Take the bud to your baby. Gently pull down their bottom lip and insert the bud into their mouth (not too far, just onto the tongue), they will suck the bud and distribute it around their mouth you can also give it a wiggle into their cheeks too to make sure its distributed. Your baby shouldn't wake up if done gently though they might pull a funny face.

To treat you:
Have some breast pads to hand and a bra to sleep in.. Dip a cotton bud in the GV and apply fairly liberally to the whole areola/nipple area. Put on your breast pads and go to sleep.

Before your next feed or some time over night get up and wipe away as much of the GV as you can, your skin will just be lightly stained , it is removed most easily with baby wipes though I used washable wipes solution and that worked fine. Then just wipe over your nipples with water just to get rid of the wetness from the baby wipes.

Do this for a max of 7 days in a row.

YOur baby will have a slightly purlple mouth but it fades in about 2days.

You may come across methods that say to treat you and then feed your baby to distribute the GV but you will both end up very messy. This method is easier than drops as it only needs doing once a day. Just be careful with GV as it does stain.

At the same time I recommend you take a lot of probiotics to help you get over it . I bought a probiotics tablet. called Now which has 8 billion live per capsule and You need to take 10-40 billion so a few capsules. you can back thisu p with live yoghurt. The probiotics help to sort your body out and make it too acidic for the thrush to survive.

we found the thrush nearly went completely with GV and then has died altogether in the following weeks.

Hope that helps

Thankyou very much, really