Absent AF, screwed up ovulation, luteal phase defects? Sign in for the all new ttc while breastfeeding thread! BFPs guaranteed!

[MrsHuxtable]

As if ttc wasn't nerve wrecking enough, we like the extra challenge of getting that BFP while still breastfeeding a baby or toddler. While this isn't an easy endouvour, it certainly isn't impossible as many graduates on the previous threads prove.

I'm posting a link here for any newcomers about fertility while breastfeeding.

kellymom.com/bf/normal/fertility/

Am also wonderig if you'd like to have some sort of stats for the tread members. I'll just start myself.

MrsHuxtable, 29, ttc#2 from April, on pp cycle 4, luteal phase defect

Found you! I wanted to update you, despite feeding my 2 yr old and 11 month old. This morning produced a bfp. Stay positive! It can and does happen.

Oh, I'm so pleased for you! You seem to be doing conception and breastfeedig very well!

I've bee having a horrible week at work (hour cuts so I'm on the bare minimum now we can get away with) and I am totally disheartened with that crappy lutal phase of mine as I know that with a 5 day one, pregnancy is just not possible. DD has had her first fever and was perma-attchted to my boobs during the last week, so I suspect this cycle won't be any better. Pessimism all around. Need a kick up my bum to snap out of it.

Am considering night weaning DD in a couple of cycles now, the poor mite.

Hi all!
Congrats nonsense! You are now officially our role model! Tandem feeding and preggers! Love it! All the best with everything :)
Mrs huxtable, thanks for restarting the thread. I hope it's lucky for us!
LP was actually 11 this cycle so the b6 is helping. I think 11 is sufficient so part of me was pleased but to be not Preg again has really p**d me off! Couldn't have done anything more this cycle! Very disappointing indeed. Can only carry on and hope for next cycle. :( we must try and keep positive, eventually the milk monsters will cut down so whatever happens, that elusive bfp is going to happen. I thought about night weaning many times but really don't want our bf to end with tears and upset. We've both loved it so much. And if I still don't get Preg then I'd of done it for nothing. I think I just have to adopt the what will be will be approach.

Jakeyblueblue - still bf ds1 (19 months), 1st pp AF may 2012. TTC no 2 ever since. Ovulating but LP only 10 - 12 days. Taking vitb6 100mg.

Oh I'm 33 by the way :)

I know Jakey! I'm in 2 minds about night weaning but if I do, I'll do the Dr Jays Method, so shouldn't cause too much upset and it's only no feeding for 7 hours a night. So I would feed her first thing in the monrning, at bed time and then if she wakes before midnight. I'd then not feed her between midnight and 7 in the morning so it wouldn't be the end of breastfeeding for us. Ideally though my LP sorts itself out within the next 2 cycles and I fall pregnant first months of trying. Haha! Then DD can feed all she likes.

11 days LP sounds great btw!

I've read that method and it does sound good but I still think ds would cry! He loves the boob! We also co sleep which I think complicates matters. Are you co sleeping? Tbh, I think I could have easily night weaned was the same age as your dd. they are less knowing then and more accepting. Give it a go! It will def help your LP u would think.
Hopefully we will both be up duffed in the next few cycles though and neither of us will need to wean!
Are we the only two peope in the world ttc whils bf? It's got very quiet on this thread! :)

Yes, we are co-sleeping too! Since I went back to work, DH has started settling DD for her naps and he does it beautifully. When she can't see me, she accepts there's no boob so maybe, if I have to wean, I might move to the spare bedroom for a while. Not sure yet. Hope it won't come to that.

I've got a bit of a new worry now. I mentioned upthread that my hours at work have been cut and I'm at risk to lose more, which I can't afford, so have applied for another job locally this morning. They phoned me tonight and want to interview me on Monday! Now, if I did get a job offer, I'd have to take it. Things at work have not been good for a while and the boss hates me so I'm constantly on edge. But then, imagine, I started a new job and was pregnant within 4 months or so!? Would they not think I was the biggest dick ever? I also had Hyperemesis in my last pregnancy and had to be signed off sick for a long time. Imagine that happening again, in a new job! Either way it's pants!

There are more people ttc while breastfeeding. 2 or 3 on another thread. More on others. I invited them over here. We'll see what happens.

Hi I'm here from the other thread, thanks for letting us know about this one.
I'm currently bf 17mo DS, down to about 3 feeds a day, and none at night generally. Just had implant out and waiting to see if af arrives as none when it was in, which is apparently normal, so really no idea what my cycle may be like now.

Thanks MrsHuxtable, currently bf 15 month old, still feeds at night and during the day ( but not co sleeping). Started TTC at the beginning of this month, no AF as of yet? Have had waves of nausea for the last few days but think is due to tiredness, DS teething and feeding like a trooper.

hi i'm new on this thread, i was lurking on the last one a little as i am "waiting to ttc". DD is 1year old and i intend to be bf her until she is three, so i am expecting to tandem feed unless she rejects the breast once i am pregnant. We co-sleep and i still feed on demand a few times a day.

can i ask a silly newbie question : is it generally difficult to ttc whilst bf, even if your periods have returned and are regular? or is there an additional resistance from one's body?

my stats: afterdinnerkiss, 30, ttc #2 this summer, cycle regular 28 days
(sorry i don't know the abbreviations yet)

Hi I'm 36 and just got a (happily) accidental, based-on-one-shag-only BFP while BF my 15 month old.

So clearly it can happen....

Hello to all the newcomers!
The link above gives some great information on fertility while breastfeeding.

Basically the 3 obstacles are:

1. not having periods yet (means no ovulation yet and only a tiny minority of women manage to catch that first egg)

2. having periods but not ovulating yet (the only way to know for sure is temping as OPK only show the hormone surge but not if you then go on to ovulate, breastfeeders can have surges because our body tries to release an egg but then there's too much prolaction in our body and it doesn't happen)

3. having periods and ovulating but after ovulation the luteal phase is too short to sustain a pregnancy (very common in breastfeeders, the consensus seems to be that you LP needs to be a minimum of 10 days to give the egg a chance to implant. If AF turns up earlier than that, it would just flush the egg out)

I'm having problem 3. AF has been back ever since DD was 9 months and I do ovulate but my LP is only 5 days. Pregnancy impossible for me at this stage.

There's things to do to try and rectify it but many come with risks.

Vit B6 --> possible drop in milk supply
Vitex --> ossible drop in milk supply
Raspberry Leaf Tea
Natural Progesterone Cream
Night weaning / weaning :(
Waiting for things to improve naturally

Anyway, I'm drinking the tea and taking the Vit B6 but only at a tiny dose of 50mg so maybe that's why it's not helped so far.

This thread has been running for years and when I first thought about ttc while breastfeeding, I started going through the old threads. There's so much helpful information on there.

Anyway, need to get ready for toddler group now and then work in the afternoon.

Looking forward to this becoming a very active group with loads of BFPs!!!

BTW, am very pleased to already see a second BFP on this thread! I certainly need the hope!

Thanks for the info MrsH, I must admit I didn't know much of that.

Congratulations crazy, good to know it can happen

yes thank you Mrs H . Really didn't know any of that.

So it might not be so easy. Need to go look up the old threads!

Hooray and congratulations for the BFP's, just goes to show, it can happen .
Feeling hopeful and all the extra info is great( thanks MrsHuxtable). Large mug of raspberry tea coming up.......

I have read that having a 6 hour break between feeds and an occasional 8, can help? Has anyone had any success doing this. It could be a possibility for me as long as DS is not teething?

Forgot to add my stats:

boombangcrash 34, BF DS for 15 months, TTC #2 (actively!) for about a month, no sign of AF.

Hello could I join this thread too please? Have just started TTC#3 this month and am still bf dc2. Been trying to wean her off it for a while now but she's putting up a fight! Not tried to TTC while bf before. Good to hear that some others have been successful already. Not been very scientific about it this month but think I'm due around 6th march. This is my first period since I conceived dc2 though so I'm not really sure. Just keeping fingers crossed this month really. The info above was really useful, thanks Mrs h.

Thanks for starting a new thread! My stats are: 33, 9 month old DD, TTC #2, 2nd cycle. I'm experiencing both delayed ovulation and a short LP, so it's not going so well so far! We cosleep and my DD nurses 1-2 times overnight so I'm sure that is at least part of the problem. Not ready to think about weaning yet... will work on it at the 12 month mark if need be.

Here you all are! I disappeared again and realised the old thread had filled up.
We have had a shocker of a week: DD has had rotavirus, which it turned out had decimated the baby room at her nursery. She was the sickest I've ever seen her, listless, tired, has lost loads of weight, the only thing she did want to do was bf! At one point my GP had me convinced that bfing was potentially upsetting her stomach, then I decided that if she wasn't taking on fluid via dioralyte or having much water we'd end up in hospital so ignored. I ended up with a bit of D for a few days too, which was nice :(.
Since she has stopped with the D&V, she has been feeding like a monster - I don't know if my supply dropped a bit and she's trying to increase it - but tantrums when removed from the boob after seemingly hours on there.
DH has taken to settling her in her room at night, which helps a bit. She came in with us & kept me awake from 3-5am last night not wanting to go back to sleep though...
Anyway, the last week has killed my temping/opk efforts off completely.
Still no sign of AF (think we're now at CD41 ), no idea whether I have ovd this cycle or not!

So: CorporeSarnie, 36, TTC #2, 1st cycle, cycle has yet to settle down, DD is 16mo.

CorporeSarnie that sounds just awful! Your poor DD and poor you! I hope everything gets back to normal soon.

It's funny how many people assume that once your periods return when you are BFing, you are immediately at high risk for pregnancy. Clearly that is NOT the case for everyone!

Hello everyone,
it's been a bit quiet recently. I couldn't get myself to post the last few days as I've just generally been so pissed off with my situation. I was going to give myself a break this cycle from tracking my luteal phase but having noticed ewcm yesterday and today, I couldn't stop myself (surprise) and got a + on the clear blue digital today. Because this is the first test I took this cycle, I don't know if it was already + yesterday but for a conservative estimate, I'll go with today which is CD 14. Last cycle I got the + on CD 18. So while this looks like an improvement, it remains to be seen when AF turns up. How ridiculous would it be if my LP was still only 5 days? I'd then suddenly be down to a 20 day cycle. I don't even want to contemplate that.

Any news anyone?

boombang yes, stretching out feeds, mixing up your feeding pattern and night weaning can all help to bring back fertility while breastfeeding. I guess you just have if some of that works for you.

My AF came back when DD was 9 months without me having to do anything and funnily my friend's arrived at the same time (same age baby). The difference was that she had been ttc since her DC was born pretty much so had already night weaned etc to encourage fertility. So it really seems to be a very individual thing, like everyone has a different feeding threshold.

Hi all, still waiting for AF, been a month since implant removed so hopefully any time now. Had a few spots (as in facial spots) this week, so looks like something hormonal might be happening or maybe I'm clutching at straws!

DS still on 3 feeds a day when I'm at work which is 4 days a week, on my days off I'm trying to persuade him to have cows milk in a cup some of the time,instead of bf, with mixed results, I don't want to refuse bf completely but sometimes he is happy with a cup.

Fingers crossed for you MrsH that AF stays away.

Hi all new and old,
Boo to the rotavirus sarnie! Sounds horrendous, hopefully you are all on the mend.
I've been feeling the same mrsH. So much so I haven't taken any b6 or Preg vits yet since AF. Have been trying to forget about it. Having said though, cd8 today so have restarted and am on the look out for ewcm.. Considered having a break this cycle but can't afford to.
I totally agree that people have no idea about the link between infertility and bf and assume its easy once periods return. No such luck.
I think we need to get a bit of positivity back ladies. Not sure how though??