Breastfeeding as contraception?

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Leaflet I got from the hospital regarding contraception said bf was as effective as the pill (providing you followed certain rules). Nurse at my postnatal check looked and told me to get myself down to the clini from some proper contraception. Who is correct? (am currently very happy with abstinence btw )

it's true, but you do need to meet certain criteria

i would imagine your leaflet explains that, but if not
baby needs to be exclusiely breastfed. no water, no formula just breastmilk
under 6 months old
still night feeding
no return of periods

I think cosleeping makes a big difference, too, as it encourages night feeds.

The leaflet is correct. Many nurses haven't had recent contraception training. The Lactational Amenorrhoea method (LAM) isn't the best form of contraception, and is hard to do properly, but if you can it's more effective than condoms are in a non BFing woman.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactational_amenorrhea_method

I received mixed info and chose not to trust bfing to prevent conception and tbh I'm glad as I was one of the exceptions to the rule. DD was feeding every 2hrs day and night, never any longer between feeds, exclusively bfed and my periods came back when she was 13 weeks old.

From the (UK) Family Planning Association

Thank you for the links - I am cosleeping so I am doubly safe - both in terms of LAM and abstinence

Haven't checked the links here sorry but a very good friend of mine was bf, had had c-section due to pre-eclampsia/problems so no intention of getting pregnant but 3months later hey presto preggers, which clearly wasn't ideal. She's a bit of a whizz on natural family planning too so I guess it doesn't always work.

don't rely on it - my friend did (and coslept and bf'd on demand) and now has a 12 month old and a newborn.

Well it worked for me (unfortunately I was TTC) even through my periods coming back and DD sleeping through. I fell pregnant within one cycle of stopping BF entirely.

But everyone is different and if I didn't want to get pg I would certainly be taking other precautions.

The info is all out there - see what you think .

DOH in fact I am taking other precautions - after DD2 I had a Mirena put in. So there you go

Yeah I was co-sleeping too.

Robbed.

I wouldn't trust it. All 3 of mine were exclusively breastfed on demand and yet my periods returned very quickly - I think DD was only 8 weeks old.

I want to believe, but the thought of another pregnancy/newborn in the next couple of years fills me with dread (bit of a mood killer the old dread) so we use condoms as well.

Also DS has started sleeping through, (yay 8pm to 6am!) so think that is it as far as the contraceptive properties go.

I am co-sleeping and BF my 20 mo DD and it took about 8 months of trying to get pregnant (but I finally am, just!), even though I got my period back when DD was about 10 weeks old. Mind you, we weren't trying very much due to time/energy limitations

Hmmm- this has gor me a bit worried, so any reassurance welcome...

My DS is 7 months old and has been exclusively demand fed, though for the past 2 months has been on solids. He now eats 3 meals a day, but still has about 4-5 breast feeds a day and never goes longer than 6 hours at night without a feed (boo!). The other night my DH and I relied- for a one off- on the fact that I'm breastfeeding... and now I'm so worried that I'm pregnant! No symtoms yet- obviously- just the utter fear of another new born in 9 months time...

My periods havn't returned yet.

What are my chances? Please reasure me...!

My Dd exculsively BF and my periods just returned at around 7 months - but she does (mainly)sleep through the night so don't normally feed from 7pm to 4-7 am

Yikes pinkdaisies

My experience is that you will be OK.

Fingers crossed, would be a good idea to do a test in 3 weeks or so (assuming you're not having periods at the moment) and go and buy some condoms.

Good luck

All my kiddies were EBF, fed on demand, every couple of hours night and day. Period returned within 4 weeks of giving birth. To the day. With all three. Get ye some contraception girl!!

DS1 entirely BF ds 2 arrived 13.6 months later. Followed all the rules and coslept... No periods be carefull!

I think the moral is that this is ono worth doing if you don't mind a surprise baby with a small age gap.
I think what always worried me was that it could fail without you having any idea it had failed because you'd not had a period. With other methods there is often (but not always) an early sign that is failed, be it a broken condom or a forgotten pill.

My mum relied on this method . Brother was born 17 months after me. No period inbetween. She had gone to be fitted with cap and they told her she was pregnant !!

I was breastfeeding AND using condoms...there's 9.5 months between number 3 and number 4!