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

I've been using an ear thermometer to do my bbt and only just now read its ineffective for this!! Any recommendations for a good bbt thermometer?

I'm going to keep going with it this cycle then swap over on cd1 if I'm unlucky this cycle.

I would definitely use them as backups yes!!

I'm so cross with my ear thermometer, it gave me about 15 different readings this morning, so totally hopeless as suspected at plotting a decent fertility chart. Wish I'd known earlier that it was no good, I always whacked it in my ear and took the first reading it took. Anyway, hopefully CM and opks will be sufficient in predicting OV this month.

Yesterday was a weird day feeding wise. He took 7oz milk in the morn, then I gave him a feed about 11am as DP was taking him to PIL god the day and I wanted him to have some bm.

He ate a really good lunch I had prepared, and a really good dinner (late at about 6pm) then refused a bf before bed and I assumed this meant he would wake me up at about 2am for a night feed. Nope!! Slept through till 6.30am and I breast fed him this morning instead but he really wasn't that fussed.

I don't know. I'm caught between being concerned that if he doesn't feed enough my milk might dwindle to nothing and wondering whether he is just naturally self weaning as he likes his food so much. I'm also considering going back to bf in the morn again as it might be that he likes the volume of milk he can consume quickly from the bottle and suddenly having to work again for breast milk seems unappealing.

I hate this indecision so much. It's really getting me down.

Hello!

May I join in? I'm 23 and TTC number 2. DS is 8 and a half months now. AF returned for the first time on 7th sept but so far nothing since.

I had a tiny bit of spotting when I wiped maybe a week ago but that's it. Can't shake the thought that I might be preg. I took a test on Friday and it had a really faint positive that disappeared, so I'm not trusting it! I finally managed to get some more tests today so I'm going to POAS later. I'm still feeding first thing and from 4pm onwards, bedtime and through the night. Sometimes DS will sleep through, other times he wakes up 2 or 3 times!!

Fingers crossed for everybody waiting for their BFP

Hi sparkle!

Update I am still getting flashing simply every day? Have looked at amazon reviews of the cb digital advanced and it sounds like this is common, so I don't really feel any the wiser. Don't notice any other signs of ov so just going to carry on Dtd as much as poss although dh away a few nights coming up

Dd been poorly over the weekend and just wouldn't go in her cot so have ended up co sleeping, and no idea how much of the night she has been feeding as I sleep through. So what with that and being run down with sleep deprivation I am not holding out much hope to have o or for a BFP.

Thanks for the warm welch blackberry!

BFN earlier. There might have been a really really faint line, but it was most likely in my imagination. Feeling a bit crap now. I've had random bouts of nausea and I've been super tired. I'm really hormonal and weepy, and just generally angry. Aaah well I'll leave it a few days and see if AF fears her ugly head or test again if not.

I hope your DD is feeling better soon cat

Oh cat that's so bloody annoying! Does the flashing turn into a static smiley or does it just flash for days and then go back to a round circle? Are you charting as well? If not then it might be a plan as hopefully FF would be able to give you a good indicator of when you ovulated and if you did.

I got a digital mouth thermometer today so I'm going to switch to that in the mornings now. My CM seemed a bit wet and stretchy earlier, opaque though so I don't think it's fertile CM. Just seems pretty early at CD8. Not sure whether I should start doing opks at cd10 or wait until I start seeing EWCM? Last month I started at cd 10 and got a smiley at cd17. Don't know lol

Blackberry I do want to keep nursing him but I also really want to give him a sibling and feel my age is very much against me. It's a dilemma!!

Welcome mummy sparkle, just jump straight in with posting, it's a casual affair here

It could be too early, these tests aren't as sensitive as the other ones I had. I should have read the packet and got different ones, but I ran into asda at 3:58 telling OH that I was getting cheese, so I had to grab one off the shelf an then go hunt for cheese!! (It's not a store I visit often so I had a clue where anything was, felt a bit like I was doing a trolley dash, but with no trolley!!)

I'm so fed up with it all, and I guess this is only cycle 1. Does everybody else have really varied length cycles now too? And how long does your PMT last? Mines been 2 weeks already. < me!

Thanks for the welcome too sebsmummy. Thermometers and the like confuse me... But I might have to investigate in a few cycles time if we don't get anywhere! Ideally i want to get preg within the next 4 months as that will work best with Mat leave for me (I work in a school, so I'll have the summer off and then only go back a few days before taking my leave from sept - sept.) But that's an ideal world, and I don't think this one is!!

Mummy sparkle I would say don't wait to understand your cycle as by the time you might want to start charting and using opks you could be months down the road and be feeling a little more desperate.

If I was starting again I would go at it like I meant it from the beginning. Definitely chart so you can see when you are ovulating. Many women just assume they ovulate in day 14 and do lots if BDing then, when actually they ovulate on day 17 or 21 and they are having no sex then.

Another option is to have sex every other day throughout the month but that just isn't practical for everyone and also not massively sexy when it feels like a chore.

We put bubsy in the cot this afternoon and got bding on the living room floor lol. When we brought him down he looked at us very suspiciously like he just knew we had been up to something naughty.

IKWYM Blackberry bout wondering why I'd been spending so much on hpts over the years when they are so cheap on ebay! Although when they are only 10p I also don't feel the same restraint on POAS at stupid times I would def use your expired ones too, I had the same, FR left over from ttc DD which was well over a year expired and worked just fine!

Cate, how many days of flashing smileys have you had now? I would persevere for this cycle at least but could be due to your PCO? I think it causes increased LH levels throughout your cycle, which might be why you are getting constant flashing? But i also think that BF delays your LH peak too, so maybe you are still just getting there

Yup mouth thermometers are the only ones accurate enough for bbt charting IIRC sebs, although you can do vaginal or rectal readings if you are really game!!! If you have fertileish CM DTD even if it is early! I think it is common for BF to cause more than 1 bout of fertile cm sometimes, I know some cycles we seemed to have to dtd lots for nearly 2 weeks before I seemed to ov!!! Poor DH

Hi sparkle yes totally normal to have irregular cycles for a while once they first come back! I agree, learn about your fertile signs and it'll help you understand your cycle so much more! When I was ttc DD, most of my cycles were 50-70 days, I just kept monitoring my CM and bbt to help me know when to concentrate dtd efforts

Had a funny night as seb woke me up for a bf at 4am. I then hardly slept until 7am when he woke for the morning. I took my temp at 7am as that's around the time I normally take it. But would I have been better taking it at 4am when I had had a good block of sleep?

Wow what a fast moving thread!

Cate I had exactly the same problem with endless flashing smileys. The fixed one did eventually appear but it was very frustrating!

Eggs hello! So cute your DD is so happy to be walking! Not great with the 5am wake up time though. Hopefully just a short phase! DD started walking last week and looks just like a penguin waddling along - adorable. Sometimes it seems like she's walking really really fast just to stop herself falling over - sort of a race against gravity, haha.

12 weeks this week - awaiting the results of a blood test for chromosomal abnormalities this week, and then scan next week.

Fingers crossed for all those coming up to testing, on cheap Internet sticks or otherwise!

I had so many flashing smileys now ... I think 8?. Swi 3 times in the 8 days but dh is away till Wednesday. So not holding out any hope this time but I don't mind really as it's v soon. I want to do bbt charting next time round - what's the best way? As foolproof as possible after the opk smiley run would be good!

Think my lack of enthusiasm is partly driven by now thinking about having some wine with my christmas lunch! How shallow am I???

Ps What do these mean? .

must be nearly halloween!

I think I'm going to invest in a thermometer after this cycle. Does anyone have any recommendations for a good one? And whens the best time to take your temperature? knows nothing about theis charting malarky! Are there any decent apps to keep track of it all?

Blackberry I'm tormenting myself by symptom spotting too. Tired, starving hungry, feeling sick, weeing all of the time and sore nipples (I think... DS bites if the milk flow it too slow, so it might be because of that!!)

FMU tomorrow, and then I've ordered so internet cheapies to arrive tomorrow or tuesday.