Can I conceive?

[noor9587]

My situation is quite complicated. I'm currently breastfeeding a 21 month old but I've cut out day feeds and only feed him before bed and maybe once or twice in the night, I've had returned periods since 9 months ago but they've only been regular for four months now.. and I've used OPK's that have indicated ovulation on CD 15/16. My question is can I get pregnant at this rate or would I need to fully wean him? My doctor told me it's best I stop breastfeeding because my I'm producing prolactin and it's preventing a pregnancy. Now is this true because I've heard a lot of people get pregnant while breastfeeding. Any advice would be appreciated

I think it’s very individual.

Me and DH were TTC whilst I was still breastfeeding our first son who was a little under 2 years old when we started trying. After about 10 failed cycles a doctor suggested I stop breast feeding as that may be why I wasn’t conceiving, so I did stop and then I fell pregnant the next month.

Some people can get pregnant whilst breast feeding and others can’t.....I guess it’s just a case of try it and see.

If you have a regular cycle and are ovulating there's no reason to think you can't conceive. Normally if people can't conceive while bf it's because it is suppressing ovulation. Historically most people would have simply kept feeding until they conceived again. Some people do struggle but you can just give it a go and then wean or cut down as needed.

I've conceived twice straightaway while feeding to natural term and continued to feed until 16 weeks of pregnancy.

That’s what I thought queen which is why initially I didn’t think anything about breast feeding whilst TTC and when people first making comments about how BF may be playing a role in why I couldn’t conceive I didn’t really take it seriously.

I got my periods back with DS1 whilst he was 4 months old and they immediately fell back in to the normal 32 day cycle I’d always had. When we came to TTC I’d been having regular periods for about 18 months and for the 11 failed
Cycles of TTC I was using OPKs and getting positives on the same cycle day each month. It’s because of that I didn’t think BF would have any bearing on TTC.

After the 11 failed cycles I spoke to a doctor who advised I stop breast feeding. She told me that breast feeding itself won’t prevent conception so my egg can easily
be fertilised, but it can stop the egg from being able to successfully implant into the endometrium wall because of the hormones involved with the BF and so I would have my periods as normal despite conception having occurred.

Obviously this isn’t the case for everyone and loads of people fall pregnant whilst breast feeding - however, some can’t.

You will get lots of anecdotal stories on this thread but nobody can say for definite if you can or can’t get pregnant because it’s completely individual.

sorry wrong post :(

Thank you everyone for sharing your experiences and advice! Yes my doctor told me to stop breastfeeding and it'll hopefully work this time round conceiving. My doctor mentioned that it's the prolactin that suppresses implantation for some women and it'll only help if cutting or ending feeds. Well I've tried cutting down and my periods have come back better and regular however it still interferes with my fertility. Thank you again for your helping advice very appreciated

Keep in mind also that you can have positive opks but not actually ovulate. So it could be a mix of not ovulating every month or eggs that have been released not implanting.

I have read of loads of people that have got pregnant while BFing but it seems to be they got pregnant fairly quickly after starting to try, or people haven't and had to fully wean.

I've just fully weaned my 20 month old as even on one or two feeds a day my period still hadn't returned. Hoping cycles will come back soon!