Wanting to TTC but worried about being pregnant and breastfeeding

[kurlyvoice]

My PFB is 11 months old and is still almost exclusively breastfed because he is resisting the move onto solids. He still feeds at least twice in the night and is very stubborn about that, and the fact that he requires it directly from the source! We don't cosleep as it has never worked for either of us so I haven't had a good night's sleep since before he was born. Oh, and I start back at work next week (60% at a secondary school)...

DH has always wanted a small age gap and I want two school years, so we should be starting to try now as DS took a couple of months and who knows when my periods will return as I haven't even had a hint yet.

However, my main worry is about getting pregnant and still having to feed DS in the night. I was so exhausted in my first trimester with him and that was on 10+ hours of sleep a night. But I really want to at least start trying for the next one.

Anyone else had these fears / experiences or got some pro/con advice for me? I'd be very grateful to hear all sides!

Watching with interest!

Do you feel tired all the time now? I cosleep with DD who still feeds 3 times a night and tbh am not that tired. I wonder if I just need less sleep than before? Oh and I work 3 days per week and have done for over a month now.

We are thinking about TTC soon but I fear I bf too much to ovulate. I too would love a 2 school year age gap which means I would need to be pg by Xmas. What we be will be though and I would just be happy to add to my family.

to Flo! No, not tired at the moment, as I have definitely learnt to survive on less sleep, but worrying about needing a full night or two to survive the first trimester, especially as teaching is so full on.

I would like to give myself the chance to enjoy pregnancy no.2 as I found the first quite tough (though I blame the pre-eclampsia for the last few weeks!). But as you say, flo, a baby at any point is a blessing.

kurly Hello :o) Could your DH help? Google the Jay Gorden method. That's what I think I will do when my baby hits 1 year (she is 10.5 months now) and I gather up the courage.

I wonder if when pg our priorities would shift slightly as there would be another baby to think of? Hopefully your next pg would be more straightforward too.

Maybe the ladies on the pregnancy board could let you know how they are coping if they are still bf'ing and haven't had a full nights sleep in over a year!

Well, my advice would be to just start TTC and see how it goes! I agree with haloflo that if you got pregnant your priorities may change and you would just need to go with it. Your DS might wean of his own accord, or you might find you can BF easily during pregnancy. Every woman is different.

In general I would say your body is pretty good at knowing its limits and you probably wouldn't get pregnant until your son is ready to cut some feeds - although saying that I know a couple of people who did get pregnant while exclusively BF! However when their babies were very young... the thing about feeding a toddler who doesn't eat much is that they really drink a lot of milk!

I did BLW with my DD and she did not really start eating much at all until 12-13 months. Like you, she would only feed from me and was very dependent on breastmilk. However, I managed to completely cut night feeds at 16 months (she began dropping night feeding from 13 months) and my periods came back after I cut out night feeds. In the end I didn't get pregnant until DD was 28 months old which was when we stopped BF completely. To be honest I would have kept going and intended to feed throughout pregnancy, but my body just did not want to BF and get pregnant at the same time! (I think most women can get pregnant while feeding, however I really think for me BF stopped me getting pregnant).

Thanks flo and island. Who knows what my body will do!? I've been reading the Jay Gordon stuff which seems interesting, though not sure if it'll work with DS as he gets so cross! Going to give it a try at Easter though, then I'll have a fortnight to try to crack the worst of it...

Keep getting very broody watching OBEM and Call the Midwife!