TTC whilst breastfeeding. Tips, advice and support

[Porridgeaddiction]

Hi all,

There doesn't seem to be a thread for TTC whilst breastfeeding, so I thought that I'd start one. All welcome to jump aboard if that's your journey too, or offer tips and insights if you've managed to conceive whilst feeding a young one.

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 it was lovely, thank you! We managed to do some hiking, although weather was a bit pants, cool and drizzly. Now came back to work to a mountain of admin 😑 I want to go back on holiday.

Ladies who are still waiting for cycles to return but not using any contraception, how often do you do pregnancy tests? I am doing roughly once a month, just in case. I hate seeing those BFNs though, so discouraging.

How is everyone doing?

Oh, I haven't been doing tests actually. In previous pregs my MS starts at week 5, which is a perfect time to stop my two glasses of wine per week 😁 So once I puke I'll do a test! I think once a month is perfect though if you are doing them - week 4-5 is when what you eat and drink etc starts to pass over to the baby.
Sounds like your holiday was great! Nothing wrong with hiking in the rain 😂

Oh I like your thinking @Orangio . I was lucky not to get much MS with my previous pregnancy at all. I am terrible for symptom spotting though, every little twinge is a possible pregnancy these days 😂

I had no symptoms until week 7 with my daughter. The only indication that I was pregnant was that my period didn't show up! Then at week 7 it hit me like a bus! I should probably start doing regular tests!

Glad that you had a nice holiday @Mc3209 I have just been away for a long weekend in bath, but can't wait to get away again!

hi all, can I join? I’m breastfeeding my 9 monther and want to start ttc asap (38 so time is not on my side). I had a period in July and was really happy that my cycles had returned. Seemed about right as my baby was 7months with DD1 my period returned at 6 months. However, I am now on CD 39 and no sign of period 😫 and no sign of ovulation. I’m sure I’m not preg as only DTD once since last period and I’ve been peeing on ovulation sticks regularly and no sign of a positive. Is it normal for menstruation to return and then stop again when breastfeeding?

Hi @Tandora welcome 🤗
Yeah, pretty normal. It can take on average 3 months for cycles to even out after stopping breastfeeding altogether, so whilst you are breastfeeding it can be all over the shop.

I hope I won't end up being one of thos women who need to stop breastfeeding altogether to get periods back!

@Porridgeaddiction Bath must have been lovely! I keep meaning to go there, but didn't get around to that yet. I am all the way up north, I will manage at some point.

We went for a wedding. It was ok, there are nicer cities in England, but I found a cafe that did amazing cakes, so I was happy! Haha

The North of England is definitely better (although I might be biased being a northerner myself! 😁

Thank you for your reply. I’ve never been so anxiously awaiting my period to come 😆. Fingers crossed we both start cycling soon and don’t have to stop bfing!

Hi Ladies! How are we all?

I've noticed over the last couple of days I've been much more wet than normal (sorry if tmi!) No ewcm but definitely much more discharge. I really need to go get a new battery for my ovulation monitor. This has got me wondering! And also pretty excited!

@Mc3209 that sounds lovely!

@Porridgeaddiction sounding very positive!

@Orangio the not testing seems good. Horrible having to do tests and having them blank.

I had four days of ewcm, assumed I ovulated as it dried up yesterday, but then had the ewcm again today. Don't know if that means I didn't ovulate. Tired of having sex though 😫 Think I'll need to temp when I get back home

This is exactly what happened to me when I first ovulated. Got my period a couple of weeks later 🤞🏻🤞🏻

@Tandora ooh, so I might be onto something here!

Hopefully period won't come and I get a bfp instead, but of AF does arrive, at least I'll know that things are happening again. Me and DH BD last night and I'll jump on him again in a couple of days, then I'll cross my fingers for 2 weeks.

I read last night that drinking grapefruit juice aids in fertility. Not necessarily that it gets menstrual cycles back, but it can't hurt as an addition to a healthy (ish) diet to increase the chances of a baby being conceived

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 sperm can stay alive inside you for up to 5 days, so I wouldn't stress about having to have more sex if you aren't up to it if you've already done it in the last couple of days. Maybe give it a day or two until you feel ready again. EWCM is definitely a positive sign for you though!

@A1b2c3d4e5f6g7 pretty sure when I tracked cm pre-baby I got the odd day without ewcm in the middle of a spell of it - maybe it just didn't come out that day but stayed lurking inside 😆 Sounds promising that you had a few days of it anyway, seems like your hormones getting back on track.

@Porridgeaddiction that sounds very hopeful too!

@Porridgeaddiction yes grapefruit juice is amazing for ewcm - I was told to drink it after a miscarriage and it certainly worked in that regard! I quite like grapefruit juice, and made a few cocktails with it also 😋

@Orangio thank you. Hopefully it's that. I'm a bit worried it means I'm gearing up to ovulate a lot and then not. What a waste of sex - have tried to do every day of fertile window so far 🤣

Ugh I've now had 8 days of copious ewcm and don't know what to think. Think it must mean I'm not ovulating. I'm CD 24 of a normally 31 day cycle 🤷‍♀️

Hmmm possibly. Do you temp, or is it too difficult with getting up in the night?
If it helps, I had ten days of it one month (when tracking pre-baby). I don't know if I was having trouble ovulating, but that cycle was normal length so seems unlikely. I just assumed I overproduced oestrogen for whatever reason. I do have pcos which can cause too much oestrogen, but it's controlled and asymptomatic really.
That probably isn't helpful! 😆

Actually I just looked back at fertility friend, and I had anything from 6 days up to 11 days of ewcm per month. And the 11 day month was the month I conceived. So it doesn't necessarily rule you out this month!

My CM is all over the place. Sometimes I get few days of good ewcm, some days are dry, others are just lots of creamier cm (tmi sorry). All without rhyme or reason. Coming up to 22 months for me 😩 I just want that ovulation to hurry up already.

@Orangio wow that's a lot. But amazing you conceived in 11 days worth, when you might have counted yourself out!

We took shared parental leave and went travelling, so it's tricky to temp when we're moving every few days and in different temperatures etc. Will def temp again when I get home

@Mc3209 oh that's so frustrating, 22 months. Yes to ovulation hurrying up for you some time soon!

@Mc3209 there are different types of cm and they go into different combinations throughout your cycle to make you cm wet, slippery, sticky, etc so it is meant to change many times throughout the month. You just need to track to find out what's normal for you.

I did a holistic fertility course a few years ago when my periods were all over the place, I was spotting mid cycle, etc and I wanted to sort it myself out. I'll dig out the info and re-read the cm stuff

How is everyone?

Not bad thanks! Had a teeny bit of veeeery slightly brown cm yesterday, so of course now I've thought 'ooooh implantation bleeding' as it's the right amount of time after that ewcm I got 😆 I've totally lost the plot! I never even had implantation bleeding with ds. I'd be delighted just to get my period tbh!
Few tricky nights this week with DS having extra night feeds, which I'm sure isn't helping the cause!

How's everyone else?

I haven't noticed any change, was a bit more wet than usual last week, but otherwise I haven't noticed any changes, and I'm one to symptom spot!

I'm doing everything that I can. I'm eating well, I'm not restricting my food intake, I've put on 5kg in fact! I'm taking vitamins, omega 3s, probiotics, I'm pumping for 3 feeds during the day and only breastfeeding for the 10-11pm feed and during the night if she wakes up.

Feeling a bit like my cycles are never going to return!

To cheer myself up, I'm having a glass of red in the bath with a bar of dark chocolate. I won't be able to do that when I'm pregnant, so may as well make the most of my time before it happens 😀

I hope that everyone is doing well