Breastfeeding and TTC

[satsumagirl]

Evening ladies

Just wondering what your thoughts are on breastfeeding and TTC? I'm 35 and DC1 is 13 months.

I am only breastfeeding him twice a day now on average- once in the morning around 6am and once when I come home from work (around 5/6pm). Both times I breastfeed from both boobs. My periods returned in August and are roughly every 4 weeks although not exact. We've been trying for another baby for a few weeks now but no luck yet. We conceived DC1 within 4 weeks so I was silly to think it would be so easy this time around! No other health problems on either side that we are aware of.

Any thoughts on whether breastfeeding may be making a difference would be gratefully received. I love bf'ing and DC1 loves it too, so don't want to stop unless I really have to.

Thanks for the advice xxx

If you have your periods back and they are fairly regular then I don't think continued breastfeeding makes any difference to conceiving again. Perhaps someone else will know more. Happy trying!

I have just been readingthe other thread about ttc baby number 2.

We too got pregnant really easily with DD but she is ebf and I read bf is supposed to be 98% effective as contraception and that pumping/letting other people hold the baby more etc is supposed to help.

Hi satsuma we also conceived DD1 on the first attempt; and now have been trying for DC2 since July, which just goes to show that number 2 can be a bit more tricky .... bf plays a part, so does that fact we were always too busy/too knackered to shag! I think if you have periods then that means you're ovulating, so if you keep at it you should get there in the end. Bf is SO lovely, surely no need to stop it before you're ready to :)

Yep - I just did, 13 m daughter breastfed morning and bed and got pregnant. Only thing more tricky than last time was didn't know when I was ovulating as not regular but we were a lot more laid back this time and both times it's just happened. Don't think breastfeeding hinders at this age.

It's worth checking out Kellymom on this as I think there's some evidence that BF can interfere with fertility, even if periods have returned.

But to add my experience, I got pregnant twice while BFing my son - first when he was 11 months and being fed 2/3 times a day - sadly ended in MC at 7 weeks. But I got pregnant again when he was about 15 months and being fed 1/2 times a day and am currently 34 weeks pregnant. Considering we had to have IVF/ICSI to conceive our son, we were beyond gobsmacked to get pregnant naturally!

Cheshire I think that statistic is for during the first 6 months. If your periods have returned then it's likely that fertility has returned.

I've been told by several people that breastfeeding is not a contraceptive.

DH was conceived while his mum was breastfeeding his sister. Apparently she didn't have any periods between his sister being born and DH being born either.

And a friend also conceived accidentally while breastfeeding - she thought she couldn't get pregnant while breastfeeding so wasn't taking any precautions.

Both cases the first babies were about 9-10 months old when 2nd one was conceived.

Hi Satsuma,

I'm in a similar situation to you (aged 37, DD is now 16 months old) but it did take us 10 mths to get pregnant first time around. I've been having regular periods for the last 9 mths or so and started TTC in Dec. I'm still confused about the effects on fertility if breastfeeding but having regular periods and normal length luteal phase. Have started trying to chart this month but finding the temp checking difficult as DD still waking frequently through the night.

Will keep an eye on this thread to see what other information people come up with. Seems pretty encouraging so far...

And keep me posted on how it goes for you!

In my experience my periods came back very regular, but definitely my fertility was affected by BF. It was not until I was down to 1-2 feeds a day (when she was over 2 years!) that I think my fertility properly returned. I finally got pregnant when DD was 28 months old and we were down to feeding every other day or so.

I charted my cycle and found my luteal phase was on the short side. Also my periods were heavier than they had been before having DD which probably pointed to a hormone imbalance. As I dropped the feeds my periods got back to a normal flow.

Certainly for most women BF does not make a difference to their fertility once periods return, but it does for some. If you don't want to stop prematurely (I didn't!) I would maybe do some charting of your cycle and see if things seem to be normal before stopping. It could just be you are a little bit older, or were lucky the first time for a quick conception, and it may just take a little longer the second time (For me, DD1 conceived in 1 month, DD2 took 7 months to conceive while BF).

A few weeks means it's really, really early days. I wouldn't worry about changing anything (including bfing) until you have had a good few unsuccessful months.

Ladies, thank you so much for all the advice. I'm so sorry for not replying sooner but work has been manic.

I'm going to try not to worry too much, and I'm also going to start charting too.Getting pregnant does seem to be a game of roulette doesn't it? I should be more patient...