TTC and still breastfeeding? Thread #4: Pull up a chair for some support from others on the journey!

[Augusthomotherium]

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!

Oh and Auf AF arrived on Saturday

Yes pear. Remember it was around 6-8dpo when my full-blown AF showed up again? Time and time again. I stopped bf altogether in April and none of my cycles improved except for the one when I took progesterone where I started spotting at 8dpo but AF held off for a bit longer. But next cycle I was right back at AF on 6dpo again. My progesterone levels were shit when they did the blood tests.
The prolactin levels were normal but because the fertility people said they do occasionally see people who after bf get 'stuck' producing too much prolactin, they always check for it in case. So while that isn't my problem, it might just be someone else's and it is worth checking as it is easy to fix. :)

Oh I missed you saying AF arrived saturday. I only saw the spotting for saturday. . Sorry pear. I think we are now the two longest surviving still fucking infertile members on this thread, aren't we? :(

That is interesting Auf, I really hope this cycle is the one!

I had to admit defeat today and get antibiotics for the uti. I had to say out loud 'there is a chance I could be pregnant' to the dr. Very odd

Auf - ahh thanks! Tbh I'm a bit confused to who you are now but I think you're the one who keeps changing names My LP seems stuck on 11/12dpo so I think the prolactin probably could be me! I went to the health shop this afternoon and brought Agnus Cactus so I will start taking that tonight. Can't do any harm surely?! The lady in the shop says that it's to balance hormones well I do feel like I'm out of balance!

Agnus Cactus does not taste nice

Ispy - so sorry that your infection is still lingering but I hope that the drugs have now kicked in? What did the doctor say when you announced your possible issue?

So much for me being quiet this week

Feeling better now thanks Pear but my lo has a temp now and Dr said it could be uti for him too as he has no visible symptoms. Really hoping it's not. He's a little under the weather but not too bad. Yeah the Dr was like 'hmm, antibiotics suitable for pregnancy AND breastfeeding? I need to look that up' it took him a while!

Sorry I have no advice regarding alternative therapies for you Pear only that I certainly believe they can work. I had reflexology to bring on labour with dc2 and it worked within about 5 minutes!

So now I'm thinking about booking a GP appointment. Should I go now and talk to them and then go back for tests if they agree? When can you get your prolactin tested anyway?

Ahh Ispy good that you're feeling better but poor dc

OK I'm going to make a Gp appointment tomorrow. I would kick myself if it was a problem with prolactin and I went further down the line before finding out!!

Good plan Pear. I'm pretty sure you can get individual blood tests done privately for about £60 if the GP won't do it. Do we know what the solution to a prolactin imbalance would be? Imagine if popping a pill could solve the ttc puzzle!

Ispy - there are pills that can be prescribed to suit ones needs to lower prolactin depending on the result. It's not straight forward from what I'm reading. It's comes with possible side effects like nausea. Anyway, I don't want you all to start thinking you have prolactin problems...I probably don't but I just want to check it out just in case.

since it's odd that my cycles are so irregular in length and it's been 3 months since I stopped bf.

Hi Auf, I'm still here thanks for the update and good luck - hope you get your bfp soon x

Pear, hope the agnus-castus works for you soon and I think it'd be really useful to get tests done now, if only to rule anything out. I'd definitely do the same if I don't get a bfp within 3-4 months of stopping feeds altogether. Good luck x

Oh, iSpy, I feel exactly the same as you about meds, I'm so reluctant to take anything whilst still bf'ing but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do - hope you and lo are back to feeling 100% soon x

DD has fed 3 times today, and I'm hoping she will only feed twice a day over the next 6 days due to me being at work then we're on hols with lots of distractions. Fx my supply will lessen and DD will start properly losing interest in the boob going forward x

ava! :)
Good luck pear. I think it is worth checking. Prolactin can be done any time as I understand it. :)

Auf - Thank you! I've made an appointment for Friday afternoon. I'm now unsure whether I should continue to take Agnus Cactus but it wouldn't work that quickly, surely? They always say stuff takes a good month to get into your body. Hmmm I've taken 2 capsules so far.

Hi all, thanks for the info Auf, I have a docs appointment next Tuesday, I finished BF nearly 3 months ago and my cycles still not back since December so was wondering if it was prolactin levels.

Pear I've been taking vitex for about a month, nothing changed yet, though yesterday I had ewcm and positive opk so dtd just in case lol. No temp rise this morning though so another failed ov I reckon!!
ispy hope you feel better soon.

Lea - ooooooo what cycle day are you? Maybe this is your month Wouldn't it be ironic the month that we all trot off to the doctors we get our bfp!

I need to order OPKs today.

Hi ladies!

I started to read through but felt a bit stalkerish so I thought I'd introduce myself, I hope that's ok!

I've been looking for a try while bf group/post for a few days as I feel I am becoming a bit obsessed with charting etc! There's obviously lots of boards/groups out there but I couldn't see any other active ttc while bf ones

We are ttc #2 and I am nursing my 21 month old, probably twice overnight and maybe 6 to 8 times a day. AF returned last August and was fairly irregular until December with a 50 day cycle in there somewhere! I have been tracking my cycles for ttc since Jan and using ov sticks since Feb. Getting a positive every time but that doesn't necessarily mean anything I guess! Ds is my miracle Clomid baby after we were told we had less that a 1% chance without IVF so who knows if anything will work this time round!

I do actually have a question that someone might know the answer to - can you still track bbt when you are co sleeping/bed sharing and lo nurses overnight? I don't actually have to move to feed him, he rolls and latches!

Xx

Hi Mini! I could have written your post myself a few months back! We co-sleep too, and as long as I've had a 3 hour stretch of sleep before I take my temp I consider that a valid reading. I also allow myself a 3 hour temping window as I can't be too rigid due to the odd night feed. Charting isnt an exact science, but just tracking my temp in the slapdash way that I do confirms for me when I've ovulated, and when the dreaded AF is on her way.

DD is 26 months now, and is finally down to about 3 feeds a day on average. My cycles returned last August when DD was 16 months, but the first 6 months or so seemed to be anovulatory, judging by almost constantly negative or not-quite-positive opks. I got my first positive opk earlier this year, and srtarted charting by bbt to confirm ovulation. My cycles are now pretty regular and I can confirm ov most months, but I think I'm still feeding a little too often to get my bfp just yet.

We're a friendly, supportive bunch on here, and it helps a lot that we're all pretty much in the same boat, so please continue to post. Good luck on your journey x

Hi Mini, welcome! I'm sort of cheating being on here as I stopped bf at 22 months (ds is now 25 months). However, the girlies let me hang about as I would have kept going had I not thought that bf was stopping me conceive! I hope you have just as much luck conceiving naturally as you did with number 1

Hi Mini, welcome and good luck :)

Pear, I'm on cycle day 10000000 (or something ridiculously high anyway), No AF since december so I slowly whittled down the feeds to none a few months ago, now trying anything to desperately get things going again. My DS is only 13 months so don't want to think I stopped feeding him so early for nothing.

Lea my AF didn't return until 14 months and I had cut down to two feeds a day by then. I think they say the average is 14 months.