Does breastfeeding play havoc with your periods?

[eclaire]

I had my my period 7 weeks ago - the first one again after the birth of my son. It has been 9mths since he was born.
Anyway we had unprotected sex 3 times on the week my period was due as we thought we were in the safe zone. Anyway my period still hasn't arrived and now I beginning to worry. I did a test yesterday and it was negative.
My question to others has anyone else ever had irregular cycles while still breastfeeding i.e stopping and starting.
With dd I just started having regular periods again after 6 months and I bf her till 15months and they were all regular with no gaps. Do you think it could be hormones?

It certainly does play havoc! You cannot guarantee going back to a 28(ish) day cycle and therefore do not know when your 'safe' time is, and when you ovulate. I should know. I fell pregnant when ds1 was seven months old. I had had a period and thought I was fairly safe (although to be honest we wouldn't have minded if I fell pregnant). We only had unprotected sex once, I didn't get another period and ds2 is the product.
Doesn't, of course mean you are pregnant, but I think I must have been ultra, ultra fertile a) because I had just had a baby and b) because I was still b/f occasionally.
Suggest testing again in a couple of days...? Would you be appalled if you were pregnant again?

it is possible that it could be hormones - there has been another bfing Mnetter with a late period who was concerned that she was pg, but tested negative. However it is also possible that you could be pg, so I would test again in a few days.

Breastfeeding does play havoc with your periods. There is no reliable 'safe time' so unless you do not mind whether you get pregnant or not, you should use contraception. The combined pill is not suitable when breastfeeding but the other methods are. I myself got pregnancy with DS no.3 when B/feeding 7 month old DS2. However, I knew that I would not mind if I became pregnant. Didn't think it would happen so quickly though

Thanks for your thoughts. I'm happy with my two littlies and a third would be a lovely surprise as we have decided on having only two.