Pregnancy when breastfeeding... No period

[thisusernameun]

I have an 18 month old and would like to conceive. However he is still breastfeeding and have had no period yet. Would I still be ovulating and so I can use opk s to try and get pregnant or do I need to wait for my first period to have any chance? Any advice /recommendations.

If you are not having periods you haven't ovulated yet. You will generally ovulate before your first period so it is possible to get pregnant without a period. I got pregnant while breastfeeding when my daughter was 18 months old, I hadn't had a period yet.

I found that I was always getting positive OPKs long before I actually ovulated. My body kept gearing up to ovulate but never actually got round to it. I stopped the OPKs as it was extremely difficult thinking I had ovulated and then thinking I was pregnant when I had no period. This went on for a year, but I was still feeding my daughter a lot. She naturally reduced her feeds quite a bit when she hit 18 months and I think this is what allowed me to finally ovulate.

There's no harm in having regular unprotected sex and seeing what happens, but I would just try to be prepared that it could take a little while

You aren't ovulating if you don't get a period. You'll get a period approx 2 weeks after you first ovulate.
Even with breastfeeding I'm surprised you aren't getting periods after 18 months - normally feeds have been reduced to a point by then that you start ovulating and getting periods again (I breastfed for 2 years and periods came back after about 8 months - she was eating more solids and feeding less). How often does your little one feed? X

Frank the average time it takes for periods to return in 15 months if DC are still feeding on demand.

I got pregnant while breastfeeding 3 times, at 15 months, 18 months and 27 months post partum. Each time I'd had one or two periods. There is a great article on Kellymom about transitioning to full fertility. It's fairly common not to ovulate until after first period and in some cultures it is called the "red flag" as it isn't a true period (ie there was never an egg), just a sign fertility is about to return. This gets less common the older DC are.

kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/fertility/#transition

A friend got pregnant at three months thinking she couldn’t as she was breastfeeding.

Thanks... So it seems opk s are useless. I feed all through the night (we Co sleep so can't say the amount) but nothing in the day as I'm at work (returned full time at 12 months)... Seems like I just need to wait for the magical period to reappear