Monitoring ovulation if you have no periods...confused....

[RubyrooUK]

Hello

Can you use digital ovulation predictor machines if you don't get periods (so have no idea where you might be in a cycle, if indeed you have any sort of cycle)? Most of them seem to suggest you have to start on a certain day to get results.

I have have a 12 month DS who I am still breastfeeding around 5 times per night (although not at all during the day). We would like to ttc again very soon but I am unsure if I am ovulating as since giving birth, I have had two days of very light bleeding at 6 months and nothing since.

Before becoming pregnant with DS on my third round of Clomid - with acupuncture - I had not had a period for three years and the hospital suspects I was not ovulating then. It has never been explained despite three years of testing why this was the case although low progesterone might have been to blame and I took extra progesterone for 12 weeks during pregnancy.

So I'm not sure if I am ovulating at all due to the breastfeeding, my old ovulation issue and so on. The doctor at the hospital warned I might need Clomid again if I was going to ttc but wanted to track my ovulation for a couple of months first just to see if by some miracle I was ovulating on my own.

Anyway, those ovulation sticks seem to fail on me pretty often by just not working at all, so I was keen to try a machine if it would be any better. Does anyone have any advice on this? (Or in fact generally on ttc when breastfeeding/with history of non-ovulation?)

Thank you so much in advance.

Hi RubyrooUK, My general medical knowledge is: while breastfeeding, your body considers itself as STILL PREGNANT, so no cycle no ovulation.

You mentioned kiddie is 12 months, so if you really want to have another kiddie, change baby from breast to bottle, wait 6 months, your hormones should be back to whack again. Then try either this:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basal_body_temperature

Or then try again the ovulation sticks, might make a big difference!

Hope this help, as the machines might be expensive and give you the same results as the stick, I would not jump on them just now.

Good luck, later CD

As a general rule, no periods means no ovulation. After ovulation, the hormonal chain of events should cause a period within 12-16 days unless a conception occurs. I'm no scientist but that is my understanding of how it works.

The machine (Clearblue monitor) is just a very fancy digital ovulation stick. Although it does detect 2 hormones to give you advance notice of ovulation, it detects the peak days in exactly the same way as the cheapo sticks. It is not suitable for you until you have had three regular menstrual cycles in a row according to the leaflet.

I would see your doctor about what to do next.

Thanks Compact and Kat.

I would give up the breastfeeding now in order to ttc if my DS had EVER taken a bottle in a year. If I go out, he will wait up till 2am for a breastfeed rather than take a bottle. Yes, he is that much of a stubborn swine. So I guess I am thinking about whether it is possible to still breastfeed and ovulate....I'll try to cut down though and see what difference that makes.

I am just concerned because I don't want to wait too long to ttc because it took three years to have DS. Thanks for the advice!