TTC whilst breastfeeding

[AriadneO]

Any medical professionals here to offer their view on this - does breastfeeding make it harder to conceive ONCE YOUR PERIOD HAS RETURNED? I know breastfeeding can help delay the return of your period, but once it's back, does breastfeeding still have a negative impact on fertility?

I'm struggling to conceive my second, and I wonder if it's to do with breastfeeding DD (18months). I still feed her 2-3 times a day, in the morning/before bed. It's a lovely cuddly thing we do, and I'd rather not forcibly stop her unless I have to in order to conceive. We've been trying for close to 6 months now, whilst we conceived DD immediately. Early 30s, healthy and don't smoke or drink.

I have tried OPKs, but the reading is never such that I'm totally sure I'm ovulating. The line gets darker, but I'm never sure if it's fully as dark as control.

Thanks in advance

Have you seen the Facebook group "breastfeeding older babies and beyond"? Lots of people explaining their experience and in general I think the consensus was that it shouldn't effect conception. Good luck x

Thank you for your reply. That was my understanding too, that once your period is back then breastfeeding shouldn't make a difference. But I'm aware lots of my info came from LLL, who are biased towards extended breastfeeding.

This is purely anecdotal but it seems that some women get pregnant easily while breastfeeding and others just can’t. My periods returned after a year with both of mine. I convinced dd2 first month trying when dd1 was feeding several times a day. Dd2 is still feeding and my periods have been back for 18 months or so and I can feel ovulation each month. I know others who have conceived while breastfeeding and others who haven’t been able to conceive. I know that’s not particularly helpful but in my experience the majority have been able to so hopefully it will happen for you soon.

I was breastfeeding my first when I fell pregnant with my second. He was 15 months but by that time I was down to feeding twice a day, once in the morning & again before bed. Pretty sure once your period returns breastfeeding shouldn't make any difference.

Fingers crossed for some good news soon

I conceived while breastfeeding a 2.5yr old.

I know 2 women who accidentally got pregnant while breastfeeding 9 month old babies (they both warned me that breastfeeding was not a contraceptive!)

So anecdotally I know getting pregnant while breastfeeding is possible, but I don’t know whether it does reduce the odds of pregnancy or not.

Many many women conceive whilst breastfeeding so in theory it shouldn’t but from anecdotal things I have heard it seems that for some women a certain level of feeding does inhibit conception in some way.

Thanks everyone. What a shame to have to stop let's see what happens this month...

Hi Ariadne0

First of all well done for bf your LO this far! I haven't got success story yet. We've been ttc for 8months now. I have just weaned DS slowly since a month ago, and last Sunday was our last bf moment. I cried about it obviously, he did cry as well which made me cry again. But DH and I really want to have another and think bf might be the issue. Anyway sorry for giving you an essay

I got my ppaf when DS was 7mo. Then had few very long cycle (40-50days). Then slowly got back to regular (28-31days). I did OPKs but never got a positive - had slighty darker line around CD20ish - so even if fertilisation happened don't think LP is long enough for implantation). I also start taking Vitex since last month. And since the last bf I notice I feel something different: My skin is amazingly glowing, I suddenly crave for DTD (!), and felt that ov cramp. And this cycle I got more reliable OPKs and it's getting darker CD10. I don't know if it's weaning related or Vitex. But from Google I found that it might be because my prolactin level lower, so progesteron higher. I hope this will lead to a lovely BFP!

Some women got lucky catch the egg while bf - I know this well as SIL fell pg while still bf round the clock her 9mo DD. However I also read that in some women bf really affect progesteron level. So you might actually fell pregnant but it just wasn't viable. How's your cycle now? Are they regular?

I hope you're one of those women who doesn't have to wean at all. Wishing you all good luck and hope you'll get your BFPs soon! Xxx

@AriadneO well done on your bf journey so far! I am feeding my 2.5 year old and have fallen pregnant twice. I got my period back 6 weeks after I had her despite exclusively breastfeeding. I fell pregnant when she was 6 months old and again recently. Unfortunately they both ended in miscarriage but this wasn’t related to breastfeeding. There is hardly any research that says breastfeeding impacts on conception once your periods have started again. Sometimes it can effect the length of your cycle but if you have periods you are ovulating. If I were you I’d carry boobing your precious little one and carry on ttc. How would you feel if you weaned him now but still didn’t fall pregnant?

Thank you for your story @Mrssendy I hope you get pregnant soon. My cycles have been fairly regular, between 31 and 33 days, since coming back around a year after having DD. OPKs (the cheap ones) get darker during my fertile week, but I'm never sure if it's fully as dark as the control line. Apparently periods without ovulation is a thing (anovulatoon), so who knows.

@TwinkleStars15 I'd like to carry on, but I'd really like to have another baby with a small age gap, so time isn't on my side. I think I'll see if I get pregnant this month, and if not, I think our breastfeeding journey might be at an end. I'm sure we'll find other ways to be close.

@AriadneO Thank you! Hope we all will get our lovely BFPs soon! In the meantime let's enjoy some ! ha!

Oh OPKs are so confusing aren't they?! I'll see if this cycle after weaning will change my OPKs result.

I did hear about the annovulation cycle during bf - think I read it from kellymom. I don't know why but I'm just sad that bf makes us stop ovulating :( anyway! Good luck to us! x

Also to add, I really hope you'll get BFP this cycle so you don't have to wean at all! ;) My DS has been very clingy since we stop bf and somehow it just nice that he asks for more hugs. x

Not sure if anecdotal evidence helps, but I've a friend with 3 kids, and she fed each up until they were 3 years old and got pregnant on the others in between. However I don't know how difficult it was

@BeThere yep same thing happen to my SIL. It was an "oopsie" as her DD just 9mo. Always find it funny how it seems so easy for other people to fall pg - especially those who didn't actually ttc.

Took me 3 years to conceive my first. All subsequent pregnancies have occurred much much quicker and whilst breastfeeding. 4 pregnancies in total. So breastfeeding seems to actually increase my fertility

@gruffalOH Ha! I did actually hear that bf improve fertility in some women!

I know three people who have struggled to conceive their second, stopped breastfeeding and then conceived almost instantly. We were trying for 6 months with no success (again conceived #1 straight away) so I stopped breastfeeding and now am on third month of trying since stopping so it hasn't worked like that for me! However I was really worried about losing that closeness with my DS (he was two when I stopped) and it really hasn't changed things at all, we just have a cuddle when we would have had a feed

Had my periods for a few months, still breastfeeding but not loads. After using ovulation strips I’ve noticed I ovulate very late so if I try and conceive it may not work. Also noticed my body shows signs of being fertile and gears up to ovulate but then doesn’t and instead I ovulate a week or bit less later. I believe breastfeeding may still be effecting fertility

Following as I'm in the same situation. My lo is 14 months and I don't want to stop yet. I'm not testing but I've had regular cycles since Feb including ovulation pain so I'm hoping it's all working now!

From a professional viewpoint, if you are getting any line on an opk when expected that would indicate that hormone levels are rising but I guess you would need bloods to detect if it's a sufficient amount if you think it's fainter than it should be. Or could it be a timing thing? Might you be missing the actual peak?
Maybe keep going for now and if your opks don't get darker speak to the gp to see if they can test for any issues before going down the weaning path?

Just to update, we've been gradually weaning. Partly because of this, but also because she's been teething and grinding down a lot (ouch). We still feed 1-2 times a day, before bed and before nap when I'm home.

I'm due AF next week, so if I'm not pregnant this cycle I think I'm going to wean entirely. I'm waiting to speak to a GP this morning to see if she has any ideas. I'll report back.

The doctor has confirmed that breastfeeding can inhibit ovulation. I've been having periods, but it's possible they have been anovulatory. There's a blood test you can do 7 days prior to expected period that confirms whether you ovulated this month.

The doctor also highlighted stress as a key factor, which isn't surprising!

We are now ttc and I've only had 3 periods in almost 2 years. DS is 22 months and still feed loads. Really want to start gently weaning but I stupidly feel too guilty. It's so odd how but some people get periods and conceive easily while breastfeeding and others don't.

@AriadneO I'm in the same boat, my periods returned about 5 months ago when I stopped feeding so regularly but like @Em2122 I've been using ovulation strips and they say I ovulate at around day 19 which (so far) has been too late in the cycle to manage to conceive. We dropped to one evening feed a few weeks ago hoping that it would help but this month didn't work either. I don't really want to stop completely as I'll miss our closeness and wind down time :(

@Fredthespider do you mean you have an average cycle (so around 28 days) but only ovulate on day 19? If you just mean that you have a longer cycle (like 32 days), then I think that's still ok. A 14-day luteal phase is the standard, I think.

Have you been to your GP to discuss? There's no harm, and I was reassured today, and doing the blood test felt like progress towards a solution.