TTC and still Breastfeeding? You are not alone - come to our bf-friendly cafe for a chat and some cake!

[MisterSafetyCatchIsNotOn]

Over here all breastfeeding ttcers! Welcome to our thread - a place for us to come for support, information and to talk about the extra challenges of ttc while still breastfeeding (or expressing like myself).

I thought I should go ahead and start the new thread as the old one is about to fill up and I didn't want anyone to get lost (hope that's ok Waiting and that you haven't already done this and I just missed it!)

For anyone who is new to the thread or needs a reminder, here are a few links to some useful websites (thanks Waiting for putting these together)

kellymom.com/bf/normal/ttc-while-bf/

kellymom.com/bf/normal/fertility/

www.llli.org/nb/nbmayjune04p114.html

www.fertilityfriend.com/Faqs/Fertility-charting-while-breastfeeding.html

Hi everyone!

mrsdiddlydoo and g0ldie - I work 3 days a week too, I find it's a good balance, I get some adult time and to use my brain a bit (and to be able to go to the loo and eat my lunch in peace!) but I still spend more than half the week with dd. She goes to a childminder 2 days and my mum 1 day. Other than a few tears in the first couple of weeks when being dropped off she is now fine and has a great time.

I'm on cd 12 now, so not much has been happening up till now, and we're just thinking about getting a bit more active for the next couple of weeks. I've never really noticed signs of ov before so think we might just do lots of swi over the right time and hope for the best!

Medium thank you that is the sort of thing I want to hear go back monday! (The tears may be mine! )

Radiator - Love the Narnia reference. Might have to double check the wardrobe in his room just in case Aslan's hiding in there!

Survived the nursery visits. Thanks for everyone's positive comments - you are such a nice bunch! Got 7 settling in sessions booked in now. 19 hours in total. We've never been apart that long! He was so fine today, just crawled off and did his own thing. Really looking forward to the idea of eating my lunch and peeing in peace when I'm back at work. Little things.

CD23 today...

Ladies, may I join the cake club?

My DD is 9.5mo, AF came back when she was 4mo (felt very ripped off!) and we've been ttc since she was 6mo (actually we had the occasional naughty moment the month before that). I'm 34 in a few days so we're keen to get another bun in the oven asap. DD is on 3 feeds a day now: 7am, 2pm-ish and 7.30pm. I go back to work next month (sob!) so she'll go down to 2.

AF has been kinda regular since it reared its ugly head: 26-29 days. Before I had DD my natural cycle was 21 days, which is pretty crap, so I spent many years on and off the pill enjoying a predictable 28-day cycle with a lovely light AF. DD was conceived on the second cycle after I went off the pill.

I'm trying not to get too scientific about the whole thing so we're still "just shagging" as much as possible, however I admit to using cheapy early pg tests on the last 2 cycles which I will not do again as it puts me in a bad mood earlier than necessary.

We're attending a family wedding this weekend and our room is next to the PIL; we are also going to stay at their house for a night after the wedding. Have told DH that we have to shag regardless!

Thanks for the welcome Paintyfingers. Those stats are actually quite reassuring. I know so many people to have struggled to conceive, so always have that worry, however I always forget that I know more people who have children!

Really need to swot up on all the acronyms!

Welcome manderel!!

Quick q for those who are already updiffed...

During the tww did your boobs feel different? Or did you not notice a difference (since you're already nursing, so it's not like they need to get ready!!)?? With DC#1 I definitely had achy boobs during the tww (not normal for me), which was a dead giveaway that something was afoot... Just wondering if that'd be the case this time around, or whether twinges are more likely to be due to the BF.

Very convoluted question...

How frustrating Painty - I was fed up this weekend when DH slept in and we missed a chance to SWI before the kids woke up, so I feel the pain!

Pretty sure I O'd: my skin has broken out like a teenager, my cervix is firm and I'm getting burning ears every night (weird but true - this happens every luteal phase for me...). Which makes me about 5dpo.

Have been feeling nauseous and ill off and on for the past few days which got me hopeful (I had symptoms crazily early with the other two) but felt better today, although yes - aching boobs (which I swear are veiny, but I never stared at them either...and crazy emotional. But by this point with #1 I was heading to the doctor I was feeling so ill (was sure I couldn't be pg) and it's not that bad. So trying to put it down to a strong ovulation and hormones settling all back into a rhythm (if it happens, this'll be the first 'proper' AF since pre-pg) rather than getting my hopes up.

This was meant to be the non-stressing TTC!!

Well I am now in the 2ww. Trying not to over think every little feeling. Not help by the fact that I now have mastitis!

Hi manderel, welcome to the cafe. Are you due to ov soon then? Hope you manage to convince your DH this weekend, we've had lots of similar experiences with ttc at parents/pil house etc but my DH is never very difficult to persuade!

radiator fingers crossed that it's a good sign! I would love to know the answer to your question as well. I had very sore boobs almost immediately with ds1, now on cd 8 or 9 and they feel a little more sensitive than normal and seem in my imagination a bit bigger but nothing like last time and not enough to be sure it's not just wishful thinking. I have been feeling pretty good about our chances this month, have found myself tearing up really easily at ridiculous things (like adverts) the last few days which definitely happened last time, but the boob thing is making me doubt myself now. I'm sure strength / order of symptoms can vary hugely for different pregnancies though, so comparing to last time is probably not that helpful.

Also trying to keep in mind that all these things could just be signs of hormones rebalancing as you said.

Sorry DH is still ill Painty, you sound like a lovely and considerate partner, I'd have been telling DH to power on through for the sake of ttc . Hope he's better tomorrow.

Hi ladies ,
I wonder if I could join you here?
I am 41 and have a lovely little girl who is 14 months.
I haven't seen the return of AF yet. My LO is not such a good sleeper and still has one or two night feeds. I am back at work full time whilst my dh is a sahd. I was expressing, but now pop home for lunch and feed then, before and after work so stopped expressing about 1 month ago.
I feel like we probably don't have a much hope ttc because of no AF yet, LO is very reluctant to drop any other feeds, and of course my age. (But still I'm hoping I'm wrong!)

Nice to 'meet' you all

Welcome Manderel and Fuzzy

I'm pretty certain AF is on her way. but trying to stay positive if I'm right that means 2 cycles in a row that are more like before DS was conceived (around 28 days) which means things are getting back to 'normal' - a step in the right direction at least. Busy weekend ahead which should help take mind off it, but involving a big friend's gathering and lots of new babies.

Radiator - thinking of you. I had such instant symptoms with DS followed by horrible HG that it's hard to not imagine the same happening with no 2. So hard not to symptom spot (even google various symptom spotting combos). Maybe work will help take my mind off next month.

Teacup - sorry to hear about the mastitis. Hope you start to feel better soon.

Painty - was the other way round for us last week - me sick trying to convince DH that we could still swi and I really wasn't as poorly as I was! At least I haven't passed on the lurgy.

Hi painty, and hi to everyone else - think it might take me some time to learn all your names!
Yes LO still feeds at night. It's usually once but sometimes twice. The longest gap between feeds is at most about 6 hours (but usually a little bit less)
We are not co sleeping ( we did try but no one got any sleep including LO )
I haven't had any ewcm or cramps, but I have noticed I'm a bit spotty lately....I'm really hoping that might be a sign.

We made an effort to try and night wean a few days ago, with dh standing by with cups of milk and soothing tones etc, but it was so stressful. My daughter got so upset, wouldn't settle and was so overtired the next day - it's hard isn't it?

Ohh and I love your fact ^ about 80 % getting a BFP within 2 years!

hi everyone. ekk0 here but name changed (kids have a new cd which has a song with my new name. cd has been on every car journey since we got it at Christmas and me and DH are singing it all the #$*¥% time!).

sorry to hear about lots of illness preventing swi but hopefully DH will be better soon painty. hope the mastitis haas cleared up teacup.

radiator I was thinking the same as you re sore boobs. I definitely remember that when pregnant with dd1 but have no recollection of it with dd2 when still breastfeeding. having said that I can't actually remember anything much at all about my second pregnancy except for a constant stream of medical appts for various complications.

news here is that AF finally returned yesterday! dd2 is almost 22 mths. although I've been desperate to see it for about six months, a couple of weeks ago I had what I thought was a few positive OPKs plus ewcm so had hoped I'd ovulate. we DTD so was hoping we might have made a baby. not this time tho. only thing is, depending when I ovulated I wondered if my luteal phase might be quite short. is 11 days the minimum? temping is not really working due to bad sleeping so is hard to pinpoint. anyway at least I can try again this month. dd1 was unplanned and dd2 conceived second month of trying so I hope it will be similar but who knows there doesn't seem to be much logic to all this! I'm a few years older, and more knackered now!

fingers crossed for those in 2ww...

just read that all back and realised is lots of punctuation missing but dd2 being too wriggly for me to update-sorry!

hi everyone. ekk0 here but name changed (kids have a new cd which has a song with my new name. cd has been on every car journey since we got it at Christmas and me and DH are singing it all the #$*¥% time!).

sorry to hear about lots of illness preventing swi but hopefully DH will be better soon painty. hope the mastitis haas cleared up teacup.

radiator I was thinking the same as you re sore boobs. I definitely remember that when pregnant with dd1 but have no recollection of it with dd2 when still breastfeeding. having said that I can't actually remember anything much at all about my second pregnancy except for a constant stream of medical appts for various complications.

news here is that AF finally returned yesterday! dd2 is almost 22 mths. although I've been desperate to see it for about six months, a couple of weeks ago I had what I thought was a few positive OPKs plus ewcm so had hoped I'd ovulate. we DTD so was hoping we might have made a baby. not this time tho. only thing is, depending when I ovulated I wondered if my luteal phase might be quite short. is 11 days the minimum? temping is not really working due to bad sleeping so is hard to pinpoint. anyway at least I can try again this month. dd1 was unplanned and dd2 conceived second month of trying so I hope it will be similar but who knows there doesn't seem to be much logic to all this! I'm a few years older, and more knackered now!

fingers crossed for those in 2ww...

just read that all back and realised is lots of punctuation missing but dd2 being too wriggly for me to update-sorry!

argh! multitasking clearly not working!

Hi everyone, hope you're all having a good weekend!

Rita woohoo for AF returning but sorry you are feeling a little disappointed as well, it always brings mixed feelings for me too. At least you now know where you are and have a new cycle to focus on, fingers crossed for this month!

I am soooo tempted to start testing but tomorrow will be max 11dpo so it will most likely be bfn which would depress me, please help me stay strong til at least Wednesday!

How's your DH painty?

Hi painty, actually I was considering trying this (avoiding that lunchtime feed) so will press ahead with that. LO will take breast and cows milk now so could give either. She has a bit of an ear infection at the moment, so will wait until that settles and then all systems go!

Rita AF brings mixed blessing. Sorry it arrived, but at least you know where you are and can plan a bit.

Ladies who have have their periods return - how long did it take for your cycles to get back to 'normal'?

Thanks everyone! I am on antibiotics and have been massaging like mad! Felt hideous yesterday but much better today.

Tmi...but little bit of blood. Guess my periods will take a while to normalise. DH thinks its implantation but I think very unlikely!