Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Conception

When's the best time to get pregnant? Use our interactive ovulation calculator to work out when you're most fertile and most likely to conceive.

Original poster

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

999 replies

eagle2010 · 28/09/2014 10:33

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.

Seeing as I filled up the old thread I thought I should start the new one!

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). I hope I've worked the links properly.

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

OP posts:
Thread gallery
5
Ruthbabyruth · 06/02/2015 17:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Ruthbabyruth · 06/02/2015 17:12

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

peardrop2 · 06/02/2015 17:21

Austria - it's hard to work out what is too short for the L phase Hmm There is so much mixed advice. I read this afternoon that if you have a 28-31 day cycle and ovulate between cd14 and 21 then that is OK. I seem to be ovulating around cd 20-21. If I ovulate tomorrow cd20 then I've got 12 days before I am expecting AF but if I ovulate on Sunday then I only have 11. From what I can work out 12 seems like the average. Oh well, time will tell. I've decided today that I am 100% weaning the 7pm feed next month.

peardrop2 · 06/02/2015 23:29

Please please please can I have a high on my cbfm in the morning? Pretty please!!!

peardrop2 · 07/02/2015 06:28

Cd20. Nothing on the cbfm. So disappointed ?? 13 days until AF arrives.

australopithecus · 07/02/2015 07:07

Oh pear! Sad
Have you tried an opk? They seem to often not agree with the cbfm from what I've read on here? Worth a try?
Hi Ruth! Mine is also 10months and I sympathise with all the article reading self-confessed nerd

peardrop2 · 07/02/2015 07:16

Austral I only have one OPK left so I've been saving it for when I get a result on the cbfm so I can compare. We've Dtd 4 x this week so I know there is nothing more I can do but it's just so frustrating Hmm

frazzledtofun · 07/02/2015 10:13

Morning!

Oh pear! Sad that's rubbish! Has anything happened this month to delay ovulation? Stress or illness? You haven't been well have you? That can push it back and doesn't mean your luteal phase will be any shorter, it means AF will be later!

And you are DTD a lot so when the egg does come it will be surrounded by sperm ready to fertilise it!

What are your other fertility signs doing? CM? You can have a situation where you get EWCM and you start gearing up to ovulate but then stress, travel or illness or even having a few days of weird eating can persuade your body to hold fire and it winds down only to try again a few days later. I have had this before and it results in weirdly odd cycles. FX ovulation is just around the corner!!!

frazzledtofun · 07/02/2015 10:14

Oh and get some IC OPKs from Amazon. They are like 10p each and worth having a few in stock!

frazzledtofun · 07/02/2015 10:16

Ruth welcome! As you can gather I could probably get a PhD on the subject. I highly recommend Taking Charge of Your Fertility by T. weschler and Breastfeeding & Natural Child Spacing by S. kippley. Both really good for figuring out what is going on and really appeals to my inner geek!!

peardrop2 · 07/02/2015 13:47

Frazzled - I don't want to buy anymore IC OPK sticks this month. I've just finished my pack of 20 Hmm Absolute zero signs in the cm department. I've had a cold but seriously...that surely can't have damaged my chances!!!! Did you get a peak again today?

frazzledtofun · 07/02/2015 14:24

Pear In Taking Charge of Your Fertility she talks about how illness or stress or even a holiday can postpone ovulation. So I don't know but it is possible. It's crap though, I know. And mega frustrating!!
With the OPK kit I have you cant test again once you got a peak reading - it just stays there for 48 hours and then you are supposed to wait until your next cycle to start again...

I am really waiting on the temperature rise now. If that doesn't happen then I haven't ovulated, no matter what the test says! Really hoping I get a rise tomorrow morning... Although we are probably not going to manage to DTD today because DH is not feeling great. Hope yesterday was enough... Confused

frazzledtofun · 07/02/2015 14:29

Pear not sure if you can read this but I just took a pic of some of the relevant parts of the book...

TTC and still Breastfeeding? You are not alone - come to our BF-friendly cafe for a chat and some cake!
TTC and still Breastfeeding? You are not alone - come to our BF-friendly cafe for a chat and some cake!
peardrop2 · 07/02/2015 15:05

Frazzled - thank you! Unfortunately I can't see them because I use the App and you can't see photos on the asp

peardrop2 · 07/02/2015 19:08

I would loooovvveer a glass of wine Confused

frazzledtofun · 07/02/2015 20:17

pear have a glass of wine. One small glass will be fine. If it makes you feel any better I am having a small glass of red. Really needed it!!

peardrop2 · 07/02/2015 20:20

No wine in the house but we have Tiramisu lol

frazzledtofun · 08/02/2015 07:00

Well there was a really clear temp shift this morning so I have definitely ovulated! Which is good news. Unfortunately we didn't DTD yesterday which would have been the day of ovulation as DH wasn't feeling great (trying so hard not to feel irrationally cross with him about this). So not sure if we will have caught the egg.

I guess we will know in about 2 weeks' time... Hmm

I think I will need to treat this cycle as a practice run so I am all ready for next month.

How is everyone else this morning??

peardrop2 · 08/02/2015 07:14

Frazzled that is great news Smile I think personally that it can be more effective to have swimmers waiting then DTD at exact OV point so I think you have a v good chance. I wouldn't worry about that too much. Will you DtD tonight?

So, today is cd21 for me. No change on the cbfm. However, I had a look back at the last two months on my app and counted that it is the norm for me to ovulate on cd22 so it is possible for it to happen tomorrow. My concern is that the length from Ov and AF is shorter then 12 days and it's meant to be a 2ww. Not sure what I can do about that Confused if I ov Monday o Tuesday then it is only 9/10 days to AF. Weirdly the app is always right about when AF shows but two/three days off on OV date.

peardrop2 · 08/02/2015 08:03

Yep definite change in cm here. Damn what am I going to do about the long lp Hmm

frazzledtofun · 08/02/2015 08:14

Thanks Pear! Fingers crossed! I am just excited about ovulating for the first time in 3 years!!

That sounds promising for you too! Perhaps try to limit feeding and see if that lengthens your LP? I am going to do that because I think last cycle it was about 10/11 days from when my body attempted to ovulate until AF. Not sure if that's long enough. I have heard that vitamin B6 can also help with LP.
In the meantime get DTD and we can be in the 2ww together!

frazzledtofun · 08/02/2015 08:16

Oh and I checked about going straight from low to peak fertility. It means the oestrogen was not high enough for the test to pick up but the LH surge still came in. Breastfeeding suppresses oestrogen so that would make sense. The question is whether it is a problem beyond ovulation... Hmm

My guess is not if you actually manage to ovulate because then the ovary that released the egg starts releasing more oestrogen to stop any more eggs being released so hopefully it doesn't matter...

frazzledtofun · 08/02/2015 08:17

I do wonder sometimes how anyone ever actually managed to get pregnant! So bloody complicated

peardrop2 · 08/02/2015 08:39

Frazzled - you and me both! I've just read up about LH defects and the article suggests B6, vit c, leafy veg, vitex, eggs, nuts and salmon. Think I'll try and eat more leafy greens, vit c and salmon this week. You never know! Personally though I think I just need to cut down to 1 feed next cycle and then I'll be in a more suitable position. Very interesting to read that short LH is the third stage bf mums can suffer from and some women are lucky enough to skip this stage and go straight to being pregnant. It's just time. Took ages for stage 1 (return of AF) and stage 2 (length of cycle) to sort itself out for me Hmm

peardrop2 · 08/02/2015 08:51

Frazzled - are you saying that you think it would help if I cut that 7pm feed straight away? Hmmm that is so tempting. Annoyingly DS has suddenly become incredibly clingy at sleep times. He's even started carrying his bunny around the house when normally in his terms that is never allowed to leave the cot. I think it's because he's had this bad cold but it's coming to an end now so he should return to normal soon and not be so clingy. Think it would be a bad time to start weaning this week though. Sod's law Hmm