Want to get pregnant but I’m Breastfeeding

[AnnieM18]

Hi ladies. My little one is 4.5 months and for a number of personal reasons, my age being one of them, my hubby and I would like to start trying ASAP for baby number 2. However I am still breastfeeding my lo and my periods have not returned. He feeds often and round the clock. I’ve tried supplementing some feeds with formula to space out breastfeeds but it hasn’t been enough to bring back my period. I am reluctant to stop breastfeeding completely as I feel so guilty about doing that when he’s so little but the alternative might mean waiting many many more months before fertility returns. I’m just wondering if anyone has moved from bf to ff for this reason and how you and baby coped emotionally and physically? And did it work? Thanks in advance!

Hi there, I think this is under the wrong section so posters able to support you may not see it.

If you report your post they will move it to 'pregnancy' or 'infant feeding' - they might be more appropriate.

Oh thank you! Not sure how I managed to do that. Baby brain! Thanks

I got pregnant while breastfeeding, it is possible.

I think they recommend at least an 18 month gap between babies, closer than that raises a number of risks such as premature birth as your body won't have fully recovered from the last birth. Fair enough if you know this and want to go ahead anyway! Might be worth a chat with your HV/GP before trying.

Many women use breastfeeding as a contraception measure , because it is so good at suppressing ovulation. So while you are breastfeeding around the clock, it's unlikely that you'd conceive.

You'd be better to go to formula feeding if you are keen to TTC this early. How people cope with that is an individual thing - I'd say that a lot of women do that because of returning to work, etc and it isn't a big issue. Babies cope fine - I went to formula after a couple of months both times and my babies had no problems after a few days.

Hi OP, we've moved this thread over to our Conception topic.

Thank you for moving my post. And thanks for the replies and advice.

Hi OP. I am currently pregnant (5 weeks so v early) and still breastfeeding. My DD is 9mo and my cycles returned at 3 months PP. I conceived on my fourth cycle. Few things you’ll need to think about before TTC:

• if you conceive and baby is under 9mo there’s the potential that you may need to supplement alternative milk (ie formula if under a year old at the time of supplementation) as your milk may well dry up in the second trimester. It will come back in the third, but second tri is very likely to dry you up. This is less of a problem if your baby takes bottles (mine doesn’t!) or if baby is over a year old at the point where it dries up, but it should be a consideration.

-pregnancy can make the way you feel about breastfeeding change. Some women don’t find their feelings change, but others find they develop nursing aversions or agitations. It can also become uncomfortable due to the usual sore boobs of pregnancy. -breastfeeding as contraception requires: baby under 6mo, no periods, bf on demand, no teats, dummies or other food (or solids or top ups). If you’re meeting all those then it is unlikely you will conceive (it is around 90% effective if all the conditions are met) but not impossible. -you need to work out if/when you are ovulating. You could try some cheap OPKs for this but you’d likely need to be testing for a long time to see anything happen if your cycles haven’t returned. -even upon return of your cycle, things can be very wacky and it can also cause a luteal phase defect. I had this- my LP was less than a week for the first three cycles I had and then this time I ovulated late (very late! Two weeks late!) but it seems to have stuck.

Kelly Mom has a good article on fertility and breastfeeding. It explains it really well and how it is often a phased return to fertility rather than it coming back all at once. You can find it here: kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/fertility/

Like pp said, an 18 month gap is highly advisable. If not, then my periods came back each time once my children went for 5-6 hours between feeds at night. If formula isn't working for you (or you'd like to keep breastfeeding), then you could so some sleep training - if tough love is not your style, then Elizabeth Pantley or Sara Ockwell-Smith books give gentler alternatives (the Pantley ones in particular work with cosleeping and bfing).

Thank you NoParticularPattern for the advice and information. That’s really useful. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. I will check out Kelly mom too.

StuckForTheFourthTime. I hadn’t thought about night time sleep training. That’s maybe an option I could explore. Thanks so much for the suggestion.