TTC while still breastfeeding 2.5 year old

[Doodat]

I’m hoping to get some advice from those who may have had similar experiences/decisions to make when TTC.

We’ve been TTC for over 6 months without success. The first time round I got pregnant pretty much immediately.

I’ve had very varied advice about how much a role my 2.5year old son’s breastfeeding might have in preventing pregnancy. He has a long feed and cuddles in the morning, when he comes home from nursery, and at bedtime.

Has anyone had a similar experience, and did you drop the breastfeeding/ did it help you conceive?

Just to add that I know some find 2.5 years quite old to still be breastfeeding, but I like taking a biological approach and it’s such an easy comfort. So I would only stop it now if I thought it would help with conception.

Thanks for any advice MNetters!

Do you have regular periods? If so, it shouldn’t be affecting your ability to conceive.

I was still feeding my 3 year old when I conceived my second and I fell pregnant right away.

Are you having sex often enough? That’s not always easy with a toddler around.

I am having regular periods, although the cycle varies a bit in length (only 26-29 days) which I didn’t do before.

We use the ovulation test sticks and generally do have sex each day for 3 days before conception.

I have had a couple of occasions where I had very tender nipples and breastfeeding became very painful. I was convinced I was pregnant but then my period started. So wondered if I had partial success but lost it early. Pregnancy tests were negative though so might be a red herring…

Literally just came on to post a similar question so watching with interest!

Still BF DC1 and very reluctant to stop as they find it comforting and it’s so handy for a quick night feed when they wake up/ getting them to settle to sleep at bedtime. Also we had a very difficult start to our BF journey and since finally getting it well established it’s been lovely, so it’s going to be hard for me to let go!

Haven’t got my periods back yet since having DC1 and currently using OPKs to check if ovulation is potentially about to start again, so far very low results nowhere near a peak.

We’re Not actively, actively TTC yet but want to pretty soon as don’t want a big age gap and DP and I both in our 30s.

It really does seem to be a very individual thing though and not an exact science, as hear of plenty of women falling pregnant whilst still BF, but others only started ovulating again once BF completely stopped 🤷🏽‍♀️

It is quite frustrating!

How old is your DC1?

My period only returned after mine was at least 18 months old, so I did fear that TTC might not come easily this time round

Nearly 9 months old so not quite the same as your situation. Thing is they’ve never been EBF as we have had to FF at times so I would have expected periods to come back.

Oh dear 18 months! 🙈 It’s such a hard decision isn’t it? Considering What do you want more, to conceive DC2 now, or to BF DC1 until you’re both ready to stop?

I hadn’t thought of the question quite in those terms, as I’m reluctant to change anything unless I think it will help… but I do want to TTC now. I don’t have time on my side, so although we’ve only been trying for 6 months, I feel under pressure to get on with it.

It's definitely possible to conceive while breastfeeding, but I conceived DD2 the month that I completely stopped breastfeeding DD1. And we were trying to conceive for months before that!

I breastfed my son until 23 months and conceived when he was about 18 months old. Like you, my cycles seemed to swing between 27 and 31 days so not regular like pre DS when they were virtually always 28 days. I found using ovulation tests the most helpful. I read some advice once that the ovulation kits need to show a strong positive to be relied upon - are you finding that the case? I think I had previously misinterpreted results when I had used them before on that basis.
My son fed a lot when I conceived (i.e. probably still 2-3 times at night and 3 of 4 times a day) so it is possible to still conceive and feed quite a lot. He did go to nursery at around 15 months which meant he was regularly going 10 hours a day without a feed so maybe that helped.
That said, my cycle came back when I was only 7 months postpartum so a bit different in that sense!
Lots of luck to you! I think if ovulation kits are showing positives, I probably would keep BF in your shoes but definitely a personal decision!

That’s interesting about the ovulation kits. I haven’t always had a strong positive line, but tbh I wasn’t sure if it was because I hadn’t got the timing right or if it was because I’ve started buying the cheaper Boots testing strips. You could spend a small fortune on this stuff!

You can buy a job lot of the OPKs from eBay and Amazon much more reasonably than on the high street.

I’m in a slightly different boat as we need IVF to conceive but I’m in a group for breastfeeding mothers undergoing fertility group. There’s plenty of success stories so bf’ing doesn’t appear to affect implantation.

Very similar situation. First child, conceived quickly. Second, took a bit longer.

My periods came back at around 3 months, and they were more regular than before I got pregnant. DS was 18 months when we started TTC for number 2, and my breastfeeding times were similar - long cuddles and feed in the morning, cuddles and feed after nursery and then again at bedtime (and then short feeds overnight). Took around 8 months to conceive. I’ve only just stopped breastfeeding now I’m 6 months pregnant (took several attempts to wean!).

I think breastfeeding is one of those things where it either affects your ability to conceive or it doesn’t. I read that one of the biggest changes during breastfeeding is that you have a shorter luteal phase, which makes it harder for an egg to fertilise and grow, but equally others can get pregnant quickly when breastfeeding too.

Also, people who don’t breastfeed also don’t necessarily get pregnant quickly second time round either. I have a couple of other friends who never breastfed, who also got pregnant first cycle, and it took them several months.

I also know someone who got pregnant on her first try when still breastfeeding.

It’s very much a mixed bag of experiences.

I took 5 months to fall pregnant while BF when DS was 2
That was sadly a miscarriage and then I got anxious that I wasn't falling pregnant quickly enough and stopped BF after a few months more of TTC.

I hoped that would be the key.

I regret it though as, even after stopping BFing, it took another year to fall pregnant. So I don't think the BFing was the issue and both DS and I would have wanted to continue a bit longer.

I also know someone who got pregnant on her first try when still breastfeeding.

Yes, this happened to me. Was totally in shock as I was trying to conceive DC1 for almost a year. DC1 was only seven months.

I conceived 4 times while breastfeeding. My periods always came back 6 weeks after each birth though.

My period took around 18 months to come back so quite a while, I was still breastfeeding for the first few months of trying for number 2 then fell pregnant as soon as I stopped (ttc wasn’t the only reason for stopping). It may have happened anyway as we weren’t trying for ages while breastfeeding but for me I do think it may have played a small part as breastfeeding seemed to make my lateral phase quite short. A lot of people do fall pregnant while breastfeeding from what I’ve seen on here so I guess it could vary person to person

Will copy and paste my message from another thread as relevant here too!

Totally in the same boat. I'm feeding my 28 month old once or twice a day now. It just gets her to sleep so easily I'm reluctant to stop, especially as she's just started sleeping through the night finally! And tbh it's still just a lovely thing to do and she waits so patiently for those two feeds a day. I'm actually in my TWW atm. Either 2/3 DPO so we'll see. I'm having regular 27/28 day periods and ovulating halfway through. This is only my third cycle properly trying as took 2 years to get periods back. But I'm 36 and feeling so desperate for another baby I think I'll consider weaning if I have to. Sending you lots of babydust and I'll keep my eyes on this thread!