Stopping breastfeeding for fertility

[BluegrassBlues]

Hi all, I've searched for a thread on this but couldn't find one - I think I need to stop breastfeeding my 20 month old as my periods haven't come back. Husband and I have been talking about ttc number 2 for a few months now, and even with night weaning there's no sign of my period returning. I'd really wanted to carry on for as long as my son wanted to, but considering I'm nearly 36 and it took 8 months to conceive first time round I think I'm going to have to stop.

Anyone else been through this? I guess I'm looking for solidarity / advice for how to deal with this emotionally - I'm so sad about breastfeeding having to end. In practical terms I think I'm going to have to reduce down to bedtime only, and then go cold turkey - gradual reduction didn't work for night weaning so don't think it would for day time (DS would not put up with the counting method for example!)

Any stories or advice to help me through this?

My periods only came back once I'd stopped BF at 21 months. I found it easier to get my head around TTC once I could track my cycle, so I was fine with it.
I do know at least two people however who conceived before having their periods return, and continued to feed a little longer. They did both stop during pregnancy though as they both developed strong aversions to it.

As soon as I stopped feeding I was pregnant with #2, unfortunately it's a natural way for the body to focus on providing the nutrition for one baby at a time

How many times a day are you breastfeeding?

Mine came back after I dropped down to twice a day.

Thanks for your replies - that's true I'm not at all focussed on ttc - much as I want a second I'm still very focussed on DS and his needs, which I guess would change a bit without bf. I feed two or three times a day, depending on if he's at the childminders or not, and more if he's ill.

Yeah, I guess my body is protecting its resources. It does frustrate me though - much as it's been great not having periods for so long, one of my friends had her periods come backs six weeks post birth! Just can't predict what's going to happen, but I feel like it's got to a crunch point for ttc now

Why don't you drop down to one feed a day and see if that spurs your ovaries into actions?

@babyjellyfish

Why don't you drop down to one feed a day and see if that spurs your ovaries into actions?

I think I will do initially - thank you. I guess I don't feel I can wait much longer to see what happens, but tbh one more month wouldn't make much difference

I do two to three breast feeds a day (more if he’s poorly) with my 20 month old son. I’ve just had a BFP this week. I can’t remember when my periods started again but I think it was maybe when I was doing 4 feeds a day?
At the moment I don’t want to stop breast feeding my son until he’s ready (within reason!!) but it’s been a bit uncomfortable the last couple of days so I don’t know if I’m developing an aversion to it because of the changes of hormones since the BFP this week.
I’m like you, hugely loyal to my son and am really sad at the prospect of the end of the breast feeding. It took us a lot to get to this point and we’re in such a great groove with it. Doing morning and night feeds is ok though for me. He asks for it then and is generally ok throughout the day without it. If I stop, I’ll be dropping the morning feed and then just doing the pre-bed feed before stopping. That’s supposed to be what LLL recommends. Then it isn’t a shock for your body.
Oh it’s so emotionally charged! It’s the end of an era !!