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!

Ava and wax, I'm so sorry it wasn't your month.
Hang in there pear, here's hoping for either a bfp or at least a longer LP this month.
Ava I really admire your positivity - especially on the hardest day of the month.

Totally agree onecurrent, anything to evoke the law of sod: stocking up on tampons, buying new clothes in a skinny size, booking holidays etc

Trinpy I sympathise with you on the crap sleep. Dd was up for the day at 5:30am this morning. Anything before 7 is still night time on my book.

I hope nobody minds me hanging around still. It's still such early days for me and I've not passed the milestone of my previous miscarriage so don't want to count my chickens and all that. Also, I've not quite fully weaned dd yet. She fed this morning: It was a desperate and lazy attempt on my part to get her to go back to sleep for an hour or so. Didn't work.

Has anyone had any 'symptoms' after reducing feeds? I used to get very bad migraines once a month. Since being pregnant with dd and until very recently they've been very rare. They're now back with avengeance.

Yay you're back Marysprayer! So glad you're still here and still pregnant :) I have my fingers crossed for you.

No advice on th symptoms from dropping feeds I'm afraid, I'm only on day 4!

Have found some advice on temping...slight issue here:

"Basal body temperature (BBT) is your temperature when you first wake up in the morning, or after at least three hours of uninterrupted sleep."

I'm honestly not exaggerating - I very, very rarely get 3 hours uninterrupted sleep. And if I do, it's probably no more than 3-4 hours and ends by 2.30am, when I definitely wouldnt be able to be scrabbling about to take my temperature, and have to get up to fetch DD from her bed anyway. Argh! Stumbling block #1...

Thanks wax I recommend Fertilty Friend too. They seemed to follow my cycles more accurately then Ovia. I didn't temp though, just did ic opks and checked for cm and also it's position. If you're not squeamish I would really recommend the latter as it really does show you where you are in your cycle.

Wax weasel - Fertility friend says not to use an ear thermometer as it is not your true basal temperature and could effect the results on your chart. You get clearer readings on a bbt thermometer whereas the ear thermometer will show you bigger spikes and curves. I'm not Very good at explaining this!

So, my friend who is pregnant decided to ring me up and tell me all about it Delightful She didn't find out until 6 weeks...how is that even possible!!!!! Don't worry...my envy did not show

Wax, on page 4 of this thread Auto (name changed) gave a great explanation re bbt charting to Mumo, when asked the same question. Re the night waking, there are nights when DD wakes every couple of hours, but I try not to worry too much about that, as long as I've had a couple of hours sleep and test within my three-hour window I'm doing okay... I just use it as a rough guide, and look at the over all patten at the end of the cycle. It's not an exact science as lots of external factors can affect the reading, like your bedroom being too warm/cold etc. It's been really useful for me to work out exactly when I've ov'd (opks back this up) and when AF is likely to show ... my bbt thermometer was less than £3 on Amazon and it's fine. Good luck! x

Thanks Mary. I am hoping for a 12 day LP which would be fantastic progress considering I was having 9 day LP's previously.

Thanks everyone for your commiserations on the sleep deprivation! I think I'm going to try and keep up the one feed for a little longer if poss - we're focusing on keeping ds in his own bed during the night rather than keeping us awake in our bed, so it's probably best to deal with one sleep related problem at a time! Though I am starting to feel like I would like to keep my body to myself now iyswim (I realise the irony of saying this during the tww ).

Anyway nice to see you back here and still pregnant mary.

Something else I was going to say but can't remember pregnancy brain already?.

Just posted a long(ish) post but can't see it!?

This was the gist:

So sorry for AF Ava & Wax. So glad you're feeling positive Ava - you have inspired me to lose some weight ?? I'm at least a stone heavier than I was pre-pg. but since I've cut down to 1 feed a day I have felt a lot less bloated.

Hope you get a better night tonight trinpy.

Mary I'm hoping for a sticky bean for you. Did you still get migraines when pg with dc1?

Pear, it's not over until it's over! You're still in the game

Hi everyone. No luck. Af here. Short lp. Name change imminent.
I might take the train to London and jump off tower bridge

plum I'm sorry for af. Sugary treats ahoy. Have you tried anything to lengthen your LP? What is it at the moment?

Trin sleep deprivation is the worst and there's a reason it's a form of torture! We found the No Cry Sleep Solution good as the tone of it was gentle and made me feel less alone!

Hugs to Ava and Wax ... May this be your last cd1 for a long time. Lovely to hear such positivity though.

A lot of lovelies seem to have short LP... is it related to breastfeeding at all? I think mine was about 10 days last month, but with DD2 I got a tiny little positive at 9dpo so hopefully it'll be ok.

Lovelies?! Ladies!.... although you can take the complement as you have all been lovely to me too!

Aww sorry plum!

OneCurrent - yes, short LPs are related to bf. I can't explain it more than that though sorry!

So, I'm so used to short LPs that I've forgotten that they can last 14 days which means it is very possible that I will have another 31 day cycle and see AF arrive on Tuesday morning! We shall see. A 14 day LP would mean a massive change in pattern this month for me and I'll have full confidence that my body is ready next month although I will be left baffled as to why it didn't happen this month! Hmmm Anyway, I will probably not test again until Wednesday. It seems very far away but there is no point wasting a stick when i am 90% confident that she is on her way.

oh no auto I'm so sorry .

One I've got TNCSS book already. It's perfect for us because it's pretty much what we were doing already . There were some ideas we hadn't thought of though and it was v reassuring to know we were following an actual technique rather than just winging it, as we'd previously felt!

Last night was a million times better. I tried putting him to bed a bit later and it made a huge difference. He slept from 7.45-3.45 when he woke for a bf, then spent an hour refusing to sleep in his own bed until we gave in and brought him into ours. So not too bad. Feeling a bit more human today at least!

Sorry Auto

Fallen off the healthy eating wagon a bit a lot since AF arrived. It's hard enough facing another cycle of ttc without depriving myself of goodies while I'm feeling at my yuckiest for a few days. Normal service will resume as soon as she's buggered off, I'm sure

Sorry for AF Auto

I also have TNCSS book, thought it was brilliant much nicer than the Tizzy Hall book my friend lent me.

Why are so convinced its not your month Pear, you know you could actually be knocked up right now? I have my fingers crossed!

Thanks everyone. I am rather miserable about af as my lp hasn't changed a bit. I'll get over it though.

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/conception/2389205-TTC-and-still-breastfeeding-Thread-4-Pull-up-a-chair-for-some-support-from-others-on-the-journey

Yes and there's a new thread for us all! Link above.