Ttc and still breastfeeding? Thread #3: Pull up a chair for some support from others on the journey!

[auroraboringalis]

Yes, we know all about how emotional and hard it can be! All the pros and cons, all about missing Aunty Flo's and wtf cycles with no ovulation, all about children being cute and pointy. No matter if you are five months or twenty months down the breastfeeding timeline, if you're ttc again, this is the thread to join! Welcome!

That's great news, Aux! (Double thumbs up)

Can I please share something totally non-ttc related? I was ID'd today whilst buying shandy for my grandfather to have at DD's birthday party! ID'd! ME! The checkout operator actually thought I looked 25 or under! Really! Haha! I told her that, second only to DD, she was my fave person today! Today was a good day, lol

Love it Ava. That's a rare occurrence for me these days! Such a compliment though hey? Esp as nowadays it means they think youre about 24, not 17 (that used to offend me)!

Definitely, Mary! x

I am so confused by my temps It showed a tiny dip yesterday and now it is rising. Does that mean I have ovulated? I know I should give up on temping this month but I am clutching at straws!! I survived a night with a lot of drunken 70 year olds. I'm glad I didn't drink as DS was up screaming at 5:30 :so at least I don't have a hangover!

Oh pear honestly I would not rely on small increases or drops in temps when you have disturbed sleep patterns like we all do with the little ones. Temping for us is about large overall patterns. You may have indeed ovulated but I think you will only know on a few days when there is a big pattern to observe.
I have had two days of higher temps now after the positive opk but I have similar high spikes pre ov (presuming it is ov) too. So it is all about general patterns and I'm not going to try and read too much into it until I have four or five highish ones out of the batch, rather than think about small dips or spikes.
I don't think we need extra stress of little fluctuations in our temps to make things worse for us!

Pear, exactly what Aux said - I only realised I'd ov'd early this cycle a few days after the event when my 'tiny' dip was more obvious. And some women don't get a dip at all. It's not the dip that matters though, it's the higher temps that stay high for a while. As yours are today higher then that's a really good indicator that you have ov'd. Even if they drop a bit then go back up its nothing to worry about - this is called a 'fallback pattern'. As long as you can look back at your chart and see a definite temp shift you'll know you ov'd. That's why temping is only really useful retrospectively Well done for persevering with dtd as much as you did x

Hey all,
16 months and still no AF. Little Puggle appears to have forsaken all solid food this weekend so has been feeding like a newborn so I can't see any fertility returning soon. Grr!

Ava get you being ID'd! nice one!

Hi all, Feeling a little at the moment. I was pretty sure I ovulated early in the month then 5 days later first af arrived. Now I'm day 17 of my cycle and I've been using opk since day 11. All negative. I think im going to ovulate too late in my cycle again this time. I have cut feeds down to twice a day. Any tips on how to bring ovulation back to mid cycle? Before ds my cycle was always regular. Anyone else have this problem? Hope you are all good :)

Thanks Ava and Aux I will just give up on temps this month. Not long to go until I know which way I'm going anyway. 50/50 BFP or AF!

Puggle - You must be v frustrated! I'm a great believer in thinking that things happen for a reason. Still soooo frustrating though isn't it!

Moggy - I'm sorry I don't have any advice with natural remedies. All I can say is that I ovulated a few days earlier this month because I stopped bf all together last month. However, It's not the solution for everyone. You may just need more time for your cycle to settle whilst still bf.

Puggle - how many times are you feeding? Is your Son poorly?

Aux and Ava - please could you just humour me and answer me this... I got a big dip on Saturday, little rise on Sunday and big rise Monday (today). If (that's a big IF I know) this shows a pattern of ovulation would that mean I ovulated yesterday on my first little rise? Or do you ovulate the day of the dip? That would be interesting since the last day I DTD was Friday. Maybe I'm not going long enough to catch the egg (if the swimmers are not strong enough to hang about that is)?!

So many feeds I can't count them! Every 2 hours at night, and then on and off all day,. Been a bit teethingy maybe and seems to be enjoying refusing food then relying on biscuits and milk. I had managed to cut out lunch time expressing but I'm sure that's back on again. Hopefully we'll make progress sometime soon

I'm with you Puggle. My ds is 17 mo and feeds about the same as yours. No af surprisingly! I keep lurking for all the advice but not a lot happening here Good Luck....

Hi ladies, just wondering if anyone else suffers from milk supply issues? Im down to 1 BF per 24hours - just the bedtime feed, Ive been feeding about 10mins one side then switching him over until he falls asleep / has enough - normally 10-15mins or more. Last night he fed for 10 mins each side then came off all fussy, I couldn't settle him so went and got some formula in beaker (only 50ml) he drank it all, then went down to sleep fine... is my milk going because Im not using it enough?

on the TTC front, Ive been using the CB dual hormone test alongside my cheapy opks, though had to use some super drug ones last week too as my cheapies ran out (Ive developed a serious POAS addiction!), I thought I had a positive Superdrug OPK on thursday & friday, - CB was empty circle - low fertility, then ICs were very negative on Sat but my CB had flashing smiley (and has done since), my ICs today are starting to go darker today so hoping that my body will finally get its act together and ovulate. Been DTD EOD for the last week or so hoping to catch an egg, should one ever appear!
I've moaned about it before but so not fair to have AF return for 2 cycles then disappear! Rant over, I hope everyone else is well

Hi all, I want to start ttc no3. I'm 42 with dd 3.5 and ds 9 months. Still bf a couple of times a day and no AF. Trying to cut any night feeds in the hope that will help! Any tips v welcome.....

Welcome moonjumping!

Apologies for being so sporadic, it's so busy at work at the moment (coursework hand in time!).

I got my first high today (CD 13) on my Clearblue monitor so will be DTD later (if I can stay awake...).

DS is 2.6 and only just down to one feed before bed, one in the night and one in the morning. It's been bloody hard work cutting down, he is such a boob monster.

Well, DD's second birthday was wonderful, we've all had a lovely couple of days celebrating. I'm such a proud mama

Pear, I think it's safe to say you ov'd on Saturday. The rise after the dip indicates ovulation has taken place. There's not always a massive temp rise - I've had a fallback rise pattern this month, but I had a staircase (?) rise last month, it slowly went up and plateaued every other day (looked like stairs) and I had a good peak temp. No such luck this month though my temps are still above my cover line and I've def got a biphasic chart but I haven't reached a v.high temp...yet...

Puggle, DD has had a few nights like that this month with no known cause and she's 2 today. She seems to 'need' the boob much more this month than last month, for some reason? She'll also have days where she just seems to graze all day rather than eating a substantial amount at mealtimes...a bit like me

Lea, I don't have any advice, sorry. Your body adjusts its milk supply depending on what your lo needs, so if you have cut down then it's possible your DC is getting less milk, but I've read that your milk changes (taste/amount?) with hormone changes, so it could be a sign that something is happening on that front? Oh, and IC and CB opks still frustrate and annoy me Good luck x

Welcome, Moon

Welcome moon.

Happy birthday to your dd, Ava

Sorry I've been a bit absent recently. Cd9 here & im not expecting to ov til about cd20. On the plus side, I've cut down feeding dd to 3 times a day

Ahh well done Mumofone! The wait at the start of your cycle is a killer isn't it OK "killer" might be slightly OTT but you know what I mean ??

Ava - Awww how lovely your post about being proud of dd is. Happy birthday! Thanks, I too think it looks like I OV'd on Sat which is interesting considering I got a peak on Tue/We'd. Just shows how quick I am to stop DtD in previous cycles and maybe that has been my problem! I didn't dtd on Sat or Sunday this cycle! Do you still hold some hope even though your temps are not as you think they should be? Your testing on Sunday aren't you? I'm only 3dpo today!!

Thanks Ruth. Hope cutting back will help you...I'm sure it will

This is going to be a looooonnggg 2ww! Always is...never know why I'm surprised

Hello Moon

Well done to everyone who's managed to cut down on feeds recently - we won't be with you for a while yet at this rate and DD no longer seems to be interested in having a little brother or sister... Oh well, she might change her mind and become obsessed with the idea of one again next month, lol

Pear, I'm not hopeful this month as my temps have been consistently lower than they were last cycle (not surprising since DD wants the boob much more at the moment...) and today they've dropped to where they were last month just before AF arrived (due Thursday) I'd poas on Friday if, by some miracle she doesn't arrive, but I'm pretty sure she will

This 2ww has been by far the easiest for me - now that I've missed my ideal 2-2.5 age gap and nearly my 36th birthday deadline I'm much more relaxed about it. Like the pressure is off now. I don't feel like I've failed though because I have put in so much effort, and if it's not meant to be yet then it must be for a good reason - iykwim? And I have stuck to my 'no symptom spotting' rule and feel much saner for it