hoping to conceive while still bfing my 18month old, what are my chances?

[Red81]

Hi hoping for some advise, me and my partner are trying to conceive another baby, im currently bfing my 18 month old ( about 3-4 times a day, sometimes less) How hard is it to get pregnant while still bfing? Ive tried cutting down my lo's feeds but she is getting alot of teeth at the moment and no ready yet.

Also Ive not had a period in 15 months so how would I know I was pregnant and when to do a test? Ive been feeling sick and food is starting to feel/ taste strange which makes me think I could be , but Ive done loads of home tests and all are negetive :( Any advise would be fantastic! Thanks :)

Hi red, that's alot of milk feeds for 18 months anyway, I was told that by nine months you should be down to no more then 2 by a doctor, one in the morning and one last thing before bed? I don't think there's anything wrong with it don't get me wrong but if she is having 3 meals aday you could cut back, my dd is 10 months and has only been on 2 for well over a month but really enjoys water aswell, no one can tell you whether your periods will return before you stop bf or not, everyone is so different, I know people who have just bf and got then back first months and others who do at 10 still feeding then some like yourself who don't till they stop, I stoped just before 9 months as returning to work and hadn't even seen any signs Olof af starting before then even though I'd been gradually cutting back for 3 months and was only doing 1 for the last month,
If the hpt is neg then you could try again in another week?

Ive been trying for 6 months to cut her feeds down and its been an absolute nightmare!! I dont know what to do, Ive tried disraction , offering a snack or food/drink instead nothing seems to work and when I refuse she gets so upset and ends up totally hysterical for ages which I cant bear it upsets me too, We only have a feed in the morning before we properly get out of bed, one at nap time which is mis morning/afternoon ( dont have this one every day) and then the bedtime one. She does have 3 meals a day and is a very good eater but doesnt seem to want to give up on bfing so dont really know what im doing with that I find it all very confussing and stressful

Think I'll wait a few weeks and try another test not much else I can do I suppose. I stopped taking the mini pill 8 weeks ago so maybe my body is just adjusting.

It's not really advice but I'm happy to offer myself up as anecdotal evidence :) I'm about 18 wks pregnant with a 23 mo and he was bf about the same as your little one at time of conception; morning/ naptime/ bedtime and sometimes the middle of the night feed.

My period never really came back properly, really light every few months and that was without any form of contraception. This did lead to a few false alarms for me especially as I started feeling queasy/ went off caffeine (my only proper vice) several times before I got pregnant, tests all negative. So much so that I took ages to do the test that the digital pregnancy test went with the 3 weeks plus option when I finally POAS as didn't want to be disappointed again.

We were TTC for about 6m. HTH.

sorry really no good with jargon what is TTc and HTH?

Hi red
Sorry it's been a nightmare trying to cut back the feeds, I don't know if you've ever given her a bottle as I was advised to do atleast 1 aday from 2 wks and I'd just express that, 1) so dh could enjoy feeding her and 2) so that she wouldn't refuse one later down the line and I'll admit she was always happy with both so cutting back was easier in that they went to bottle feeds then I started giving water instead, they were all relatively easy apart from around 3-4 oclock when she was unhappy for it but since nursery and I think the distraction she didn't have that one, I'm yet to try morning or evening and I'm just lucky she's not had a night feed since about 3 months, I wouldn't want to here her crying or getting upset though so I totally sympathise, it's hard if she just really likes it and I guess if you don't need to stop to go back to work etc it's not going to hurt to continue, will she not take a bottle at all?
I think there will be a point when you will be able to get pg again, my mum did and I caught the first month I stoped before af, the difficulty Is you wont know when to dtd or when to test which may get abit frustrating

no probs :) Im lucky that I only work 4 hours on a saturday and the same on a sunday so workingf has never got in the way of feeding her, but uinfortunately she has never taken to a bottle, and Im a bit aprehensive to give her one now at 18 months I think shes prob a bit to old to try introduce one now. I do give her a cup with a straw which she prefers to a sippy cup ans I give her one with milk in the mornings with her breakfast which is usually cheerios and toast, but she doesnt drink alot of it wether its expressed milk or cows milk, shes always prefered milk from the source haha. It has made it difficult though. Think next time round I'll perserver with a bottle early on so that when we do decide to wean the dransition will be easier .

Hello, we started TTC when Dd was 11mo, breastfed 3-4 times per day. It took us 5 months to get pregnant.

So... no advice really, just keep shagging! I cut down on feeds after I found out I was pg, i'm now 36wks and we've just been doing bedtime feeds since January.

Good luck!

haha Thanks for the advice poppy283 , My plan is if she isnt weaned before Im lucky enough to fall pregnant she'll defo be weaned before baby no2 arrives.

Goodluck and thanks again x

hi just happened across this post as we are thinking of TTC, and we have a 26mo who is also BF. she still has at least 4 feeds a day (which i didnt think was that unusual btw).

just to say that you can fall pg whilst still BF - we did conceive when our DS (who was also BF) was 19mo, unfortunately i never got to tandem feed as we lost that baby. by the time i fell pg three months later with DD he had self weaned.

DD however shows no sign of giving up the boob (nor would i force her to) so i too am wondering what my chances are!

TTC - trying to conceive also referred to as DTDWI- doing the deed with intent and HTH - hope that helps

Thanks Graciescotland Ive also been a bit crap when it comes to decoding jargon! haha :)

And Shelley72 Im hoping that my lo self weans as it seems a more gentler way to do it, ive had so many people dictate to me about going cold turkey which just wouldnt work for us, I will admitt I do try to have certain rules around it as I have no support from any of my family and the pressure to stop is starting to get to me im sick of having to justify myself to everyone :( so we are currently working on the ' we only have mummy milk in bed' so mornings, naps and night time which is sort of working I think she understands what I mean anyway x

Good luck with TTC as well :)

Sorry correction Graciescotland ' ive ALWAYS not also been a bit crap with jargon :P

Sounds like your doing the right thing red, I'm sure she will understand you especially if you keep reiterating, it's amazing how quick they are, when my little one 11 months had a spoon in her mouth today I said can mummy have some and she straight away put it to my mouth! They amaze me! Plus cold turkey would be very hard on her and your body, I lost one feed every 2/3 wks and suffered no pain at all but my friend went cold turkey and said it was horrendous pain. At the end of the day you can only do what's right for you and make the deductions as you go along

Thanks Kittykatsforever :) They are amazing especially when you think of how little they are and all the stuff they need to learn they seem to pick everything up so fast its scary! Yeah dont fancy cold turkey my friend had to for health reasons and said it was agony! I'd rather a more painless option and less stressful on my lo too :)