TTC while breastfeeding

[freshcottoncandle]

First post but long time reader!
I have a 9 month old baby, but would really love to get pregnant again as soon as possible really, the plan has always been to have two close in age

I am still breastfeeding on demand, probably around 8 times in 24 hours inc during the night and I haven't got my period back yet. My baby has never taken a bottle and now doesn't really like to even drink expressed milk from a cup.

I've googled a bit but does anybody have any experience with falling pregnant before their period comes back? I know it is rare.

And when did your period come back whilst breastfeeding as much as I currently am

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

Hi, my periods came back at about 6 months pp when I was still feeding and expressing, and became regular when we dropped to about 4 feeds a day. Im still feeding once a day and had a chemical in Feb and I'm about 5 weeks now again. I found q a useful article about how and why breastfeeding can inhibit fertility if you want me to try and find it?

I think it really varies. My DD fed on demand a lot and I got my period back after 13 months and I feel pregnant again two months later. With my DS I got them back at 11 months.

Hopefully yours will return soon.

Some people have to completely stop feeding to get them back it varies a lot.
I am/was in a similar position to you. My DS was born in September and we also want our children close in age and my DS was a bottle refuser too!
I tried everyday with different bottles and at five months he finally took a Lansinoh after spending a small fortune on different brands! Over the next 7 weeks, I gradually reduced to bedtime feeds only hoping my periods would come back, which they didn't. I finally got my period on Sunday almost 8 weeks after completely stopping so I'm hoping we'll get our BFP soon.
I know my experience isn't what you're after but I think some people are more sensitive to prolactin and you may find you have to completely stop.

Hi I had this exact same query when trying to conceive DS2 around 4 years ago and found very little guidance on the internet.
With DS1, periods resumed around 11 months after birth which was around a month after I stopped feeding at night. I presumed it was due to stopping night feeds. We then started trying for #2 a few months later. I continued to feed first thing in morning and last thing at night. It took around 11 months to conceive and I had an early miscarriage. After another maybe 4 months I went to the doctor for advice to see if I should stop breastfeeding- I was confused as I assumed as I had a period I was ovulating but didn't know if breastfeeding would decrease my fertility. The doctor emailed his colleague in fertility who said there were no real studies in this but long as you have a period you are fertile, regardless of whether you are still feeding. I decided to stop feeding anyway. I then conceived around 11 months after the miscarriage and that one stuck! It took me the same amount of time to conceive whilst breastfeeding as it did when not (albeit only feeding twice a day). The key thing is to get your period to come back.
With DS2, my period came back really quickly, about a week or so after solids and before I'd stopped feeding in the night which disproved my previous theories about night feeds. But he also self-weaned at 10 months so maybe I didn't have as much milk.
From the research I did at the time, I think it's unlikely your period will resume if you continue to night feed as apparently there's something about a night feed that tells your body the baby needs you. However you don't have to stop breastfeeding to conceive- many women continue to nurse while pregnant or even tandem feed. Kellymom is a helpful website.
The other thing I'd say is try not to get too hung up about conceiving #2. In hindsight for me, the breastfeeding question made me think much more about my fertility than I should have done. I went down the route of ovulation kits etc which made me over think it. It took around 2 years to conceive DS2 and I got upset I didn't have the close age gap I'd wanted. But now I think a 3.5 year age gap definitely has made things easier for me and they now both play together so are close. Now expecting DS3. Whilst we wanted to have another, we decided that 'trying' just wasn't fun and of course he was conceived really quickly without thinking about it.
So just focus on what is right for your baby now and what works best for sleep and feeding for your baby and the rest will fall into place.

Thanks everyone for your replies and sharing your experiences!
It's a tough one as I don't want to 'rush' my son into stopping breastfeeding by any means, but would really love to conceive soon. That doesn't mean right this second , but i would ideally like to within the next 6 months, but I am conscious that it can take a while once periods are back.

I guess I will just have to wait and see when my period comes back. There have been quite a few nights where he has slept for 7/8 hours without a feed but at the moment it's every 3 hours because he's teething so I'm not hopeful it will be soon
But again thank you so much to everyone it's really given me some food for thought!

My period came back at 5 months but was very irregular (think I only had two in the end), I was still breastfeeding on demand and was pregnant again by the time he was 8 months

My period hadn't come back at 18 months due to still breastfeeding on demand. Decided to TTC anyway. Due date for Baby2 is exactly one month from the date we started TTC. Took about 24 hours. 🤷

Can't be that rare, surely. DH was conceived while his mum was breastfeeding his sister, I have two friends who both conceived their second while breastfeeding their first- all before periods returned.

Just go for it.

*due date is exactly nine months from the date we started TTC, not one month! 🤦